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Now it needs EIGHT cops to take Harry and Chelsy clubbing
Last updated at 14:14pm on 15.01.07
Guard: Prince Harry
The cost of protecting the young royals came under scrutiny again today after eight police officers were diverted from normal duty to shield Prince Harry and his girlfriend Chelsy Davy as they left a nightclub.
Two vanloads of Met police were sent to Mayfair's Cuckoo Club - celebrities go there expecting to encounter the paparazzi - to form a guard when Harry and Miss Davy, 21, left at 4am yesterday.
The uniformed officers were summoned to keep photographers at bay. It seemed an unusual step because the prince, 22, was already shadowed by two Scotland Yard protection officers who had been with the couple inside the club.
This was Miss Davy's second night in a row with Harry. On Friday - hours after she flew in from her home in Zimbabwe, to be met by a police escort - the couple shared a £100 vodka cocktail at Mayfair's Mahiki Club.
The latest show of police protectionis sure to raise questions about the cost to taxpayers and the priorities of the stretched Met at one of the force's busiest times of the weekend.
Miss Davy is in England for a private 10-day holiday as part of a gap year's travelling after graduating from university. She has said she is willing to move here so she can spend more time with Harry when he is on leave from the Household Cavalry. Police sources said yesterday that although there was no incident at the club, they were called because of concerns over the huge number of paparazzi in attendance.
Only last week, 12 police officers escorted Prince William's girlfriend Kate Middleton out of Boujis nightclub in South Kensington. At the time Tony Arbour, a Conservative member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, said: "If the reports are true, this is completely inappropriate."
She was assigned protection amid rumours of an engagement to William. But it is unlikely Prince Harry and his girlfriend of two years are as serious, even though she has received the same treatment.
Meanwhile, lawyers for Miss Middleton, 25, today issued a "final warning" to the press after secretly filming the paparazzi to support any harassment complaint she might make. The firm, Harbottle & Lewis, is believed to have "disturbing footage" of the scrum.
Reader views (2)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
The Police should not be under the authority or beck and call of the Royal family. They are to serve the entire nation equally and fairly and 8 officers to protect people who are not in trouble is far too much and whoever made the decision to send so many out should be seriously reprimanded for their action.
- Olusola Sonuga, Greenhithe, Uk
If Harry needs protection, why is he going clubbing at a paparazzi hot spot? And why can't the royal family pay for police protection themselves - just so he and Will can have a good time?! Don't get me wrong, I'm a royalist but this flippant use of tax payers money is a little insulting when most of us as so hard up we can't even afford to go out for a Harvester meal, let alone £100 cocktails.
- Isabel, Woking, England
