A Daily Express poll has found that the vast majority of readers do not believe Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet should receive police protection, delivering a blow to their parents, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
The poll ran from 7am on Wednesday, October 28, until 12:20pm on Thursday, October 29, and received 6,145 votes. Of those, 5,766 (94%) said the siblings should not be given police protection, while 313 (5%) felt they should, and 66 (1%) answered that they did not know.
Call for protection
The poll followed a call from veteran royal photographer Arthur Edwards, who said he believes Archie and Lilibet should receive police protection. The young royals, now aged seven and five, live in the UK after the Sussexes decided to return in August.
After stepping back from royal duties, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were no longer automatically eligible for police protection in the UK. The couple still do not have full-time security in the UK and are waiting for the results of a review by the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec), which authorises security for senior royals on behalf of the Home Office.
Reaction from readers
Mr Edwards called Archie and Lilibet, who is affectionately known as Lili by her parents, "a prince and princess of the House of Windsor" and said: "What were they doing in Montecito going to an American school, when they should be here playing with their cousins?"
"They should be getting to run around Balmoral and Windsor," he added. "They should get royal protection because if they were kidnapped, there would be uproar."
The Sussex children do not have royal protection. The Sussexes are thought to be residing somewhere in the Cotswolds, with Archie and Lilibet attending a British school. The couple's children were forced to move from their first school in the UK due to security fears and are now, according to Harry, "loving" their new one.
Family break
The poll comes after the family left the UK for a break following allegations about Meghan's father, Thomas Markle. Thomas Markle Sr's son, Thomas Markle Jr., allegedly found boxes of child abuse images at his father's home in the Philippines, where he briefly moved and had his leg amputated. He reported this to the Philippine police force, which is now investigating it, and to the FBI in the US, where Thomas Sr. has returned to live.
Mr Markle told the Daily Mail that the allegations were "sick lies". He said: "I have no idea why Tom is trying to destroy me with these lies. I could never do what I'm being accused of. It's the worst thing anyone could accuse me of." Thomas Markle Sr has admitted to paying for sex in a South-east Asian country but denies ever possessing a hoard of such material.
A source reported that the family of four have travelled abroad for a short break to spend time with close friends. "She's just really, really upset," a friend told Hello! Magazine. "She keeps on looking at Lili, and she's in tears, and thinking about all the children, the alleged victims. She has young children herself. It's just devastating."
