Prince Harry Cost Canadian Taxpayers More in Security Than Any Other Protected Visitor, Records Show

Canadian taxpayers spent more protecting Prince Harry during his visits to Canada than they did on any other internationally protected person over a five-year period, according to newly released government records obtained through an access to information request.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police spent at least $539,575 providing security for Harry between the 2014-15 and 2019-20 fiscal years, covering trips he made for events including the Invictus Games and visits related to his relationship with Meghan Markle, according to a document obtained by CBC News. That figure is substantially higher than the $334,337 the RCMP had previously disclosed in 2021.

The spending on Harry and, later, his wife accounted for roughly 10% of the more than $5.2 million the RCMP spent protecting more than 100 internationally protected persons who visited Canada during that stretch. The costs cover incremental expenses such as travel and staff overtime, but not the base salaries of the officers involved, meaning the true cost of the protective operations was likely somewhat higher than the figures reflect.

The records, first requested in January 2020, were released only after Canada's information commissioner, Caroline Maynard, ordered the RCMP to make them public earlier this year. The police force had fought for years to keep the names on the list confidential and declined to answer questions from CBC News about the records, including whether a possible duplicate entry may have inflated the reported costs associated with protecting Harry and Markle.

Under international convention, the RCMP is required to provide security to individuals designated as internationally protected persons whenever they visit Canada, regardless of whether the trip is official, for business or personal. The list released to CBC News includes a wide range of figures beyond the royal family, including the adult children of President Donald Trump, former U.S. presidents and first ladies on paid speaking tours, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, foreign ambassadors, and the heads of intelligence agencies including the CIA, FBI and NSA.

Harry's security spending was broken out by year in the document, showing $105,955 spent in 2016-17 and $364,859 in 2017-18, before dropping sharply to $866 in 2018-19 and $904 in 2019-20. A separate line item lists $56,405 in spending for 2019-20 under "Duke and Duchess of Sussex," though CBC News noted that figure appears twice in the document as what may be a duplicate entry, despite being included in the RCMP's overall $5.2 million total. The Duchess of Sussex is also listed separately with $10,586 in security costs for 2018-19, tied to a reported trip to Toronto to visit a friend.

Harry's costs during the period far outpaced the $178,584 spent protecting his father, then-Prince Charles, during a 2017 visit to Nunavut, Ontario and the Ottawa region. Harry first met Markle in Toronto in 2016, while she was filming the television series "Suits" there, and the couple became a frequent subject of paparazzi attention in the city before their 2017 engagement and 2018 wedding.

Simon Morgan, a former UK Metropolitan Police officer who provided protection to senior royal family members and now runs the London-based security firm Trojan Consultancy, said the level of protection afforded to internationally protected persons stems from an international system established through the United Nations and is generally tied to the position someone holds rather than personal wealth. He said Canadian authorities may have judged that Harry warranted heightened security given his status as an Afghanistan war veteran and his position within the royal family at the time. "He was the Queen's grandson. He was the future King's son," Morgan said. Morgan also noted that Harry remained a working member of the royal family throughout the period the records cover.

The document also sheds light on security spending for other prominent visitors. Barack and Michelle Obama's security cost $295,411, the highest among former U.S. presidents and their spouses, followed by Bill and Hillary Clinton at $143,927. Costs for other former U.S. leaders were considerably lower: $6,852 for Laura Bush's 2018 appearance at a Rotary International convention in Toronto, and $1,026 for a trip by George W. Bush in 2019-20. Jimmy Carter's July 2017 visit to Winnipeg, where he worked on a Habitat for Humanity project and was later hospitalized for dehydration, cost $50,328.

Ivanka Trump's security cost $63,586 in 2017-18, tied to a widely reported weekend trip to Whistler, British Columbia, with her husband, Jared Kushner. A separate line item for "President Trump & Family" totaled roughly $66,405 across three fiscal years, despite Trump himself not visiting Canada during that window outside of the 2018 G7 summit in Charlevoix, Quebec, which is covered under a separate security budget. His sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr. attended the opening of a Trump hotel in Vancouver in February 2017.

Phil Gurski, a former Canadian Security Intelligence Service analyst who now leads Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting, said security decisions should be driven strictly by credible intelligence about potential threats. "If there's any indication that a person may be subject to some kind of act of violence, you should act on that intelligence," Gurski said, adding that Canada would not want a visiting official targeted on its soil. Gurski also argued that individuals visiting Canada for paid speaking engagements or similar commercial purposes should help cover the cost of their own protection.

Harry's Canadian security arrangements changed dramatically after he and Markle announced in January 2020 that they were stepping back from official royal duties, a decision that also ended his taxpayer-funded UK security detail. Harry has since challenged that decision in the British courts, and his eligibility for protection during visits to allied countries has continued to be assessed on a case-by-case basis.