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The killing of a monarch is called regicide.
It’s not something that happens in modern times, but in the past quite a few royals
were murdered or executed.
Take Charles I of England for instance, who said, “An unjust sentence that I suffered
to take effect, is punished now by an unjust sentence on me”, right before he put his
head on the block.
Then you’ve got Henry VI, who was murdered while he was staying at England’s worst
lodgings, the Tower of London.
Or what about Alexander of Greece, who for all intents and purposes was murdered by a
monkey.
But it’s not often you hear about common folks getting close enough to fell a monarch.
Today we’ll find out why, in this episode of the Infographics Show, How much protection
does the royal family get?
It goes without saying that monarchs are heavily guarded and don’t take the risk of rubbing
shoulders with the hoi polloi.
You don’t hear about Queen Elizabeth popping down to the shops for a loaf of bread and
a packet of Marlboro Lights.
It’s not likely that these days the British public would get rankled enough to demand
the Queen’s head, but there are likely a few anti-royal people out there.
So, she has a security detail.
In fact, in 2017 the Queen’s former security expressed concern that her present security
system had changed.
Scotland Yard had begun implementing a rotation system, and that meant the Queen would be
seeing many different men around her.
One of the guys responsible for looking after the late Princess Diana said, “Understanding
the behaviors of the person you are charged with protecting is crucial.
Understanding the machinations of the royal household is very important too.”
But how much protection do those royals usually get?
Well, you might see the Queen surrounded by soldiers that are what is called The Queen’s
Guard.
While every tourist likes to get a picture with these guys that can sometimes be seen
wearing what looks like a bear’s backside on their head (a busby) they are not just
there for show.
They actually do protect the queen.
These guys stand at their post and make sure no one can get to the queen or any other royals.
That wasn’t the case in 1982 when a guy got to the Queen’s bedroom, but it was there
that he was intercepted by the police.
The cops over in London have a branch called the Royalty and Specialist Protection service.
These guys look like regular security, with dark sunglasses and a black suit and tie.
A website called Elite UK Forces tells us that the men in this service stay around when
the Queen is at home and they follow her, and any other member of the British Royal
family, when they travel abroad.
It’s said they are highly trained.
They are experts in one-on-one combat and if they don’t fight with their fists they
may end up using their 9mm Glock 17 pistol.
Before the royals go anywhere these guys will have secured the area and done their reconnaissance.
As we said, there are not too many people out there who want the blood of royals, but
in modern times there have been some close scrapes.
In 1981, a kid in New Zealand tried to take out the Queen with a gun when she was visiting.
He missed with his shot, and it was kept secret at the time.
The Guardian wrote, “The Queen had just stepped out of a Rolls-Royce to greet 3,500
well-wishers when a distinctive crack rang out across the grassy reserve.”
Cops got hold of him and during an interrogation he told them he had been ordered to do the
hit by a mysterious character called “The Snowman.”
Yes, he was crazy and sent to a psychiatric facility.
He later decided he also wanted to kill her son, Prince Charles, and then while in prison
he took his own life.
He was awaiting trial for murder and kidnapping.
When asked about his famous assassination attempt he said, “Damn … I missed.”
Had he been a better shot, Britain may have lost its queen and many questions would have
been asked about her security detail.
It seems the British royals had a fair few enemies in that part of the world.
In Australia in 1994, a young man by the name of David Kang attempted to assassinate Prince
Charles.
Well, not quite.
The guy rushed towards the stage where Charles was standing and fired not a real gun but
a starter pistol, twice.
He was then pushed to the ground by the then New South Wales Premier, John Fahey, and Australian
of the Year, Ian Kiernan.
Charles was shielded by his security.
The man got just 500 hours community service.
He now works as a barrister, so he didn’t do too badly.
We guess security is a bit tighter these days.
When the royals go abroad these days they are protected by the Special Escort Group.
The armed men will surround a motorcade that is carrying one or more of the royals.
They will also be somewhere in the crowd.
We are told, “The goal of the SEG outriders is to enable the VIP convoy to keep moving
- thereby avoiding presenting a stationary target to would be attackers - while causing
minimal disruption to the public.”
There is also a guy who gets to have the cool-sounding job of “Easy Rider.”
This is the person that rides a motorcycle in front of the convoy.
It’s said the motorcycle security guys usually ride Honda VFR 1200s.
They carry handguns but also sometimes MP5 SF2 carbine guns.
One of these men crashed in 2014 when Prince Harry was being taken in a Range rover to
the Invictus Games.
The Daily Mail wrote, “The driver, acting in line with his anti-terrorism training,
expertly steered through the damaged vehicles at speed before coming to a stop several hundred
feet along the road.”
But it wasn’t an attack, just an unfortunate crash.
Simon Morgan, who worked as security for the royals for many years, told the British press
that protection was mostly about knowing what’s going on around you.
You must have the eye of an eagle, a super-awareness.
“That's what the protection officer is thinking while the principal gets out, meets and greets
the host, waves to fans, or to the press.
You have thought of everything that might happen during that simple walk of two or three
yards,” Morgan said.
He also said that it is mentally draining, especially when the royal is walking around
close to where hundreds of people are waving.
“You're looking at hands, you're looking at eye contact, you're looking at dress - that's
very relevant at a time like this when we are dealing with suicide bomber-type scenarios.
Why has someone got a very heavy winter coat on a lovely summer's day?” he said.
To get into this position you will have to take a lot of courses.
You must learn how to be a response driver, an anti-hijack driver, and an armored car
driver.
Obviously, you get lots of firearms training, but as we said, learning situational awareness
is a big part of the training.
He added that even though under their smart suits they are packing powerful handguns,
they don’t want to be a ‘show of force’.
Instead, they meld in.
When he worked there he said there were 107 officers protecting the royals.
These days he’s taking care of famous movie stars and very rich business people.
Do all the royals get this kind of protection?
Well, you have the main royal family, the princes and princess and dukes.
You’ve probably never heard of the Princess Michael of Kent, the Queen’s cousin in law.
So, you have those guys and all their families.
Then you’ve got all the members of the House of Windsor, and there are lots of them.
On top of that, you have a bunch of folks who are related to the royals, but they don’t
use what’s called the royal style.
Take for example Lady Sarah Frances Elizabeth Chatto.
So, it’s a big family and no they don’t all have round-the-clock security, but you
can bet they won’t be seen getting some pie and chips at a London derby football game.
The British tabloids in 2012 did say, however, that around 21 royals have tight security
and that it was costing the British taxpayer around $130 million a year.
The Mirror wrote, “1,000 officers are being used to guard the royals and their homes around
the clock.”
16 properties around the country do have this round-the-clock security.
You might not even have heard of some of the people with this security.
It’s said that each of these lesser-known royals will still have five highly-trained
officers around them all the time.
As for those places the royals like to stay, such as Balmoral castle in Scotland, they
will have scores of officers and armed response personnel surrounding them when they are occupied.
You can’t just walk up to the door and ask if the princess is playing out.
This includes the country cottage where you might find Prince William and Kate Middleton.
And don’t even think about rolling-up to Kensington Palace and doing a belfie in the
royal fish pond.
What about when the princes join the army, such as Prince Harry.
Was Harry protected or was he hanging out with the working-class lads from Liverpool,
Manchester, Leeds, etc.
Well, the Royal-loving tabloids would have you think the royals are as much at risk as
any other soldier, but is that the case?
Harry once told The Guardian, “It's very easy to forget about who I am when I am in
the army.
Everyone's wearing the same uniform and doing the same kind of thing.
I get on well with the lads and I enjoy my job.
It really is as simple as that.”
That said, his unit was the Household Cavalry's Blues and Royals, which is what you might
call a special unit of senior officers.
But of late they have been deployed in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The unit does lose the odd soldier in action, and Harry did say in the past he wanted to
see action.
“The last thing I want to do is have my soldiers away to Iraq or wherever like that
and for me to be held back home,” he said, but in the end, he wasn’t allowed to go
on that occasion.
Then he got his chance in 2008 when he was sent to the Helmand province of Afghanistan,
but it was kept secret at the time.
Years later and he was shooting at Taliban and then flying Apache helicopters.
“It sounds like a con, but Harry is genuinely shaping up to be one of the best young Apache
pilots this country has ever seen,” said a Military source.
So, there you go, maybe Harry is the least protected royal.
There’s always the chance he’ll get hit by a bullet or his helicopter will go down.
The royal family may need to be protected, but so does your personal or business website.
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Would you like to be a royal?
Is it a good life, being followed around constantly, having to be protected?
Let us know in the comments.
Also, be sure to check out our other video Are you related to the royal family.
Thanks for watching, and as always, don’t forget to like, share and subscribe.
See you next time.