A few years ago, one of the Duchess of Cambridge’s royal protection officers (RPOs) got some attention. It wasn’t bad attention – the RPO didn’t do anything wrong. The attention was basically “it’s interesting that Kate has one very loyal female RPO.” The female RPO is named Emma Probert, and she was assigned to Kate as soon as William and Kate got engaged. The story was that Prince Charles recommended that Kate get at least one female bodyguard, because Charles remembered all too well that Diana formed several close attachments to a few male RPOs back in the early years of their marriage. Basically, Charles wanted to ensure that his daughter-in-law didn’t screw around with “the help.” Plus, I think it probably looks better for female royals to have a few women RPOs on their security teams. Anyway, Meghan Markle will be getting the same treatment – allegedly, the Protection Squad is looking for a highly skilled female bodyguard to attach to Meghan’s permanent security team.
Royal officials are seeking a highly-skilled female bodyguard to shadow Meghan Markle. The recruit would join a team employed to protect Prince Harry and his fiancée. Harry, 33, is thought to be among royals who would prefer Meghan, 36, to have a female guard — like her future sister-in-law Kate.
A source revealed: “Those in charge of security are hunting for an appropriate person.”
The Duchess of Cambridge, 35, was assigned a female police bodyguard, Sergeant Emma Probert, after she became engaged to Prince William in 2010. Emma, 45 — a member of Scotland Yard’s Protection Squad — is trained in martial arts. She carries a 9mm Glock pistol and a Taser stun gun at all times. The arrangement was said to have been suggested by Prince Charles. It is thought Meghan’s bodyguard will start work with Sgt Probert.
The source continued: “Kate has grown very close to Emma over the years. They hit it off from the start and have gone on to build up a great relationship. So it is expected that a new female bodyguard would learn the necessary ropes with Emma first. It would be a trial period to make sure she is the right woman for the job. And if so, she would then be transferred to Meghan and Harry’s team. The difficulty the team face is there are far fewer female bodyguards available with the necessary skill-set than male bodyguards. But they are confident they can find someone to fit the bill.”
It seems like a problem that they the Protection Squad would have to actively recruit someone new just fulfill the simple requirement of “being a woman.” I guess it’s not shocking that the Protection Squad would be a total sausage party, but surely Emma Probert isn’t the ONLY woman the squad has ever found who can act as a bodyguard? Why isn’t THAT the story? As for Meghan getting a female RPO eventually – do you think Harry is just doing this so Meghan will have a woman around her at all times, someone she can trust? Or does Harry remember his mother’s close relationships with various bodyguards too?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Love Megan but can we talk about the H&M thing? I’m actually shocked they did that!
H&M is sorry if you were offended :/
In this day and age they knew. I honestly feel like these brands are doing it on purpose at this point.
What’s the H&M thing?
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/01/08/h-m-apologizes-ad-showing-black-child-model-wearing-monkey-hoodie/1012309001/
Islalund what has that got to do with Harry and Meghan and H&M.
My bad Linda. I shouldnt post before I’ve had my coffee. I thought you were referrring to the H&M scandal. Obviously not….lol
That’s terrible. What were they thinking? It is not a US company so maybe they didn’t realize the implications in the US
Can you guys not threadjack please?
yeah, I’m so confused! H&M has literally NOTHING to do with this story!
Well could either Kate or Meghan have requested a female officer? Maybe they too didn’t want a giant sausage party of RPOs.
The intimate bonding threat is as old as time. Human nature. And it is practical to have a female in her team. Sometimes women are better adept at perceiving different sorts of threats that a man might not be aware of. Just life experience folded in from all the passive gender struggles and biased behaviors.
It doesn’t have to carry the tagline of making sure MM doesn’t have an affair.
Now with Kate… it carried a different narrative. That female RPO served more times as being Kate’s female friend she would shop with or have lunch with to squash the stories she had no friends outside of pippa and Carole. Once it came out that woman was her RPO. Not a friend or a decorator that narrative faded out. Not to say she didn’t have a pleasant relationship with her, but if you’re a professional with business hours you’re not there to be a lady who lunches or chat. You’re there to protect.
I thought all women who have protection had females. I always think of that scene in The West Wing, in which the daughter goes into the Ladies Room and doesnt come out. She was kidnapped from there. Seems risky, to not have a woman right there with her anytime in public.
It’s entirely likely Meghan would prefer a woman as well. I know I would. I don’t know the amount of access an RPO has to their client, but, assuming they have a great degree of access — if not actually intimate — a same sex RPO would be far more comfortable for someone who hasn’t grown up with servants and bodyguards.
The biggest advantage of a female bodyguard right now is that they are rare and dont stick out. The best protection is not to be seen. Two women walking down the street attracted less attention than one woman flanked by to tall guys with sunglasses. This obvisously doesnt apply here as her name and picture are in the press.
QueenB, this. It will look more like she is with a friend, easier to blend in, than a creating a more interruptive scene for those in her proximity. Less for the tabs to play with, too.
RPOs are not picked by size nor do they attend their charge whilst in sunglasses. You wouldn’t automatically assume they are RPOs because they are trained to blend in and look ordinary.
In the above pictures it’s easy to pick him out because he looks like what he is, but would you assume the following were RPOs or random strangers who happened to be caught in the pap’s frame?
https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article11603359.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/PAY-princeharry_28112017_04JPG.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZE55KOrM6y0/Tss5I0_Y_mI/AAAAAAAAH7w/Wp9nk08B4II/s1600/Kate+Middleton+Shopping+Zara+on+Kings+Road.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/8d/78/52/8d78528afce168539efb57eb1f2b6021–duchess-kate-duchess-of-cambridge.jpg
Yeah, and if Meghan wants to go to the gym or the spa or even pop to the loo, it’s much more comfortable for everyone not to have a big hulking guy following her.
Yeah, I think I would be more comfortable having a female bodyguard around.
IKR? Seems pretty straightforward why a woman would want a female guard. There’s really no comparison to Diana here, though. Meghan’s not a young inexperienced girl in a loveless marriage whose only access to men is her guards.
Poor Diana, what a mess she got into at such a young age.
Minx, she really did. Whatever her own faults might have been, she was very young and had barely explored romance before that door was closed off to her. Perfectly understandable that she’d have crushes. Who wouldn’t?
The protect these women from themselves argument would only work if the entire detail was same gender. If Kate or Meghan were trying on clothes in a shop I think the other lady patrons would appreciate not having a male RPO parked in the fitting room.
Exactly. Or in a salon, or yoga class, doctor visit, etc.
Men do go to the Doctors, with their wives and girlfriends.
Yeah…like when Diana used to go to the gym, would they clear every other member out of the locker room before she went in, so her RPO could go in with her? 🧐
If it’s true that Prince Charles recommended a female bodyguard because of possible cheating he’s disgusting. We women are capable of holding our legs together.
The aunt of one of my friends runs the family jewelry company. She has 2 female and 4 male bodyguards. They “rotate”. Always 1female+2male team. Both women are middle aged and bad ass. One female bodyguard follows her everywhere (toilet etc.). They don’t draw big attention when they are shopping “together”. The male bodyguards are to be seen. The female ones look like friends on purpose.
Ollie sorry for my ignorance why does she require such protection?
I was told she travels a lot to deal with big stones…
According to my friend all legal and honest (i don’t know how honest the diamond business can be but let’s believe it).
It takes big stones to work in that industry.
Loopy, about 20 years ago a friend of mine went to the Los Angeles jewelry mart alone. While she was there, in a downstairs shop, several men barged through the atrium doors with automatic rifles. The store owner was able to block the doors to his shop with an automatic metal gate. Right before this all happened he’d just been asking my friend if she was their alone, and if so, why? Anyway, as they waited for the swat team to arrive he explained that that sort of thing happened every other weak or so. Dealing with most items worth a lot of money is dangerous, and can make you a target.
Ollie
So much this.
I don’t really know about cheating. I don’t see why either Kate or Meghan would cheat, especially with RPOs. For all we know both women have loving relationships with their respective partners.
Diana said she’d cheated with several men but what she said in the “informal” interviews with the speaking coach was that she loved the RPO who was later transferred and eventually died in an accident. According to her, their relationship had been platonic but she would have run away with him.
Anyway, Charles and Diana had a different relationship than these two couples have.
Plus, as I said above, Diana was young and inexperienced. Makes sense that she crush on a guard in a school-girl way when her husband neglected her. Hardly a parallel to Meghan.
I’ll doubt that Charles ever thought that.
Otherwise, when it was outed that KM had security from Metro Police long before the engagement? It was outed because of a discrimination suit brought about by a female police officer who had been part of protecting her. Having at least one female RPO idea for a female royal has been around for awhile.
It makes more sense to have at least one female RPO for the things already mentioned, like the ability to do a security sweep in a changing room without causing a big fuss.
Incorrect. The officer filed her suit years after working Kate’s detail. Kate having a PO was never a secret so there was no “outting”.
She filed her suit years after serving as her PO, but what came out was that she was protecting Kate Middleton long before the engagement announcement. The fact that KM had taxpayer-funding before then was often denied but later proven true.
Notasugar
I don’t see any proof anywhere online. Links if you happen to have any and don’t mind sharing or something to differentiate between your claim and the fact that Charles likely paid for Kate’s protection after being harassed in 2007 by the paps. On the possible chance RPOs were assigned to her and billed to taxpayers that would be the royals’ error, not Kate’s.
Look. It. Up. Name is Haruna.
Not the first time you’ve accused me or others on here of making things up, won’t be the last time you’re proven wrong.
Here is a quote from one of the MANY links I found looking up “haruna kate middleton” on google
“One of her duties on her Chelsea beat was to escort Prince William’s then girlfriend from her front door to her car while photographers tried to snap her.”
So yes, she protected kate as a public officer while kate was the girlfriend.
it was part of her beat so she wasn’t moonlighting for private pay
It could be that he didn’t want the allegations more than it being true or not. Just avoid the chance of the tabs making photo assumptions and creating a story from nothing.
I wonder if the male royals never had female RPOs because there are concerns over cheating… bet that excuse never came up…
Don’t be ridic Ophelia. A man isn’t going to be helpless to control himself around a strong, take charge woman. It’s only us girls that swoon over guards. /s
Now I want a full on Dora Milaje-like squad for Meghan. 😀
Do you remember the photo of Camilla with her all-female security detail during a trip to Dubai in 2016? Great picture if anyone can post it (since my links never get through).
Found it. Hope the link works.
https://i1.wp.com/emirateswoman.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/camilla.jpg?w=860&crop=0,0,100,430px
It’s really quite striking isn’t it?
Thank you! It is a great photo.
It is a great photo, couldn’t have been better if it was planned.
Love that photo!
That looks bad ass
and you can bet those women can kick some major ass too, they look fierce
We’ve already seen Meghan with a female RPO; shortly before the announcement she was photographed shopping with ‘a friend’.
I remember her being photographed walking with Sarah Chapman, who owns the facial spa she had just been to. I don’t remember her being photographed with another woman at that time.
You’re right. It was the hokey skincare lady.
Oh, ok, thanks. That was an assumption on my part.
Having a female body guard has nothing to do with Kate or Meghan not screwing “the help” as it was eloquently put. It’s because females can accompany Kate or Meghan in an inconspicuous way where men cannot always go–for example, a change room area at a store.
Harry is balding. Shame (if only because his hair colour is very pretty, not because bald is bad). Meghan looks lovely. I’ve been lukewarm-to-liking her in the past but I really enjoy how thrilled she looks in every photo and I don’t know. She’s just a breath of fresh air, a nice breeze in an institution that’s becoming antiquated (though many would argue that it’s been antiquated for a long time).
As for the female bodyguard, I think like Peanut Gallery above: it’s because a female bodyguard can go with their protected where a male bodyguard cannot. Dressing rooms, woman only areas. Hell, a bodyguard is literally tasked with guarding your life. If I were to choose a bodyguard whom I had to trust my life with, I’d go for a woman. And if I got a whole detail, I’d have it mixed gender.
Lol! They can screw around but the women better not even try! No daddy’s maybes over there.
The cheating scenario is plausible because when and if there are periods of time that your husband is not attentive to you, you’re fighting or you’re neglected in general, imagine by your side is a handsome fit man whose sole job is to make sure you’re ok. Can anyone blame Diana, really? Not really, she just wanted to be cared for and that’s exactly what he did.
Charles was concerned about cheating. It was ok for him to cheat on his wife. With 2 married women no less.
Oh I know haha , cheaters are ever so much more paranoid
Women can cheat with women too ya know!
This wouldn’t be the first time outside of Diana that a royal had such an issue with security detail. Crown Princess Mary of Denmark’s RPO’s were fired because her husband didn’t like how chummy she was getting with them. Not that she was having an affair, but she just became extremely close and too friendly and Frederik thought there wasn’t enough distance between her and their staff. They are very solid, so it must be a real issue to consider sometimes.
Totally irrational question: if a female RPO was first trained by Emma (and therefore close to Kate (and William)), would Meghan (and Harry) be concerned with some across the aisle interaction? If Harry and William are truly as at odds with each other as a lot of people suspect, is there a potential for rival courts to be set up around them? Or is that more of a Charles/William thing? Palace intrigue!