No plan to ask US for security resources: Prince Harry, Meghan

WASHINGTON: Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, have no plans to ask the US government for help with security costs, the couple said in a statement on Sunday in response to a tweet from President Donald Trump that the United States would not pay for their protection.

In January, the couple said they would step away from their royal duties and according to media reports, recently relocated to Los Angeles.Earlier on Sunday, Trump tweeted: “Now they have left Canada for the U.S. however, the U.S. will not pay for their security protection. They must pay!”

A spokeswoman for the couple said later in a statement: “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have no plans to ask the U.S. government for security resources. Privately funded security arrangements have been made.”

The duchess, Meghan Markle, who married Prince Harry, the grandson of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, in 2018, criticized Trump during his 2016 election campaign as misogynistic and divisive.

Last year, Trump, on being told of Meghan’s criticism, said: “I didn’t know that. What can I say? I didn’t know that she was nasty.” But he also wished her well in her new life as a British royal.The couple stunned the royal family in early January with an announcement they would be stepping down from their roles as senior royals, in order to gain freedom from the intense media scrutiny that has followed them for several years. They had been living for several months with their son, Archie, on Vancouver Island in Canada.