Meghan Markle’s long list of demands before she’ll step foot back in the UK
With a possible return to the UK this year looking more likely, Meghan Markle has already laid down a stringent set of demands that will have to be met before any trip goes ahead.
Royal watchers are tipping that the Duchess of Sussex could join husband Prince Harry as he heads back to the UK in the northern summer to mark one year to go for the Invictus Games set to be held in Birmingham.
It would be Meghan’s first trip there since the Queen’s funeral in 2022.
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The first non-negotiable is police protection at all times, and that may be about to be approved.
Prince Harry is reportedly quietly confident he will soon have his right to police protection while visiting the UK reinstated after losing a long legal battle with the government last year.
In December, the Home Office announced a review of that decision which stripped him of 24-hour armed police protection.
“We hope common sense prevails. Whether you like Harry or not, he’s the son of the King, brother to the heir and will one day be brother to the King. Those are things he can’t change and the risk doesn’t just stop,” one friend told The Times.
If she is to return, Meghan requires “24/7 drivers, a fleet of luxury cars, and a police escort from the airport straight to the hotel,” a source told celebrity reporter Rob Shuter.
“This isn’t just protection. She’s asking for a fortress. Bulletproof glass at the Games, armed security everywhere she goes.”
Also on the list of Meghan must-haves is for “four floors of the Hyatt completely shut down just for her,” a source told Shuter.
“Extra security outside. Staff aren’t allowed to look at her. She’s in total control.”
Another insider said, “Anyone who has any interaction with her has to call her ‘Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex.’ No exceptions.”
Meghan is also reportedly planning to fly in her own chef, assistant, hair and makeup team, and requires four separate rooms for her PR staff alone.
If the visit does go ahead, royal watchers have warned that the Sussexes should brace for a possible poor reception, given lingering bad feeling among Britons over their “Megxit’ departure to the US in 2020 and the ongoing bad blood between Prince Harry and his brother, the heir to the throne Prince William.
