Plot to kidnap Prince Harry while he was on a niche yr in Argentina led to royal safety shake-up, nationwide papers reveal
Police were ordered to beef up security planning for royal visits over fears Prince Harry was nearly kidnapped in Argentina during his gap year, National Archives files reveal.
The 20-year-old was at the centre of an abduction scare in which gun shots were fired.
Security had to be increased at the polo ranch in Lobos, 60 miles from Buenos Aires, where he was staying as part of a visit in November 2004 to Argentina described in Cabinet Office records as his ‘ongoing education’.
The Argentine government was apparently alerted to the kidnap threat by a murder suspect in the local underworld.
The Security Ministry responded by sending a squad of 15 armed police officers to patrol the perimeter of the El Remanso ranch, and they fired shots into the air after two shots were heard being fired in the area.
A Cabinet Office meeting on the security of royals the following week ordered that: ‘Given the recent publicity about the possible kidnapping threat to Prince Harry, the Metropolitan Police should where appropriate seek advice on the possible risks of kidnapping in countries being visited by members of the Royal Family‘.
Prince Harry observes a polo game in Buenos Aires, Argentina where his friends, the Tomlinson brothers played
Prince Harry enjoys some Polo practice at a family friends Polo Farm in Argentina
Prince Harry smiles triumphantly and crouches beside the carcass of a recently killed water buffalo in Argentina
Another concern was a lack of RAF aircraft for royal and ministerial visits – because too many planes had been diverted to Tony Blair‘s invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Aircraft from No.32 Squadron, based at RAF Northolt, were ‘increasingly engaged in theatre on MoD tasks’, an official noted in August 2004, a year and a half into the disastrous invasion of Iraq, adding this was ‘a trend likely to continue’.
An official group considering the problem concluded that royals and ministers had been ‘resorting to chartering individual civilian aircraft via a broker’ despite the added costs and ‘security problems’ of hiring planes that terrorists could have planted a device on.
The latest release of files from the National Archives in Kew also reveal:
Bob Geldof dismissed African leaders as ‘very weak’ – as he lobbied Tony Blair to spearhead a campaign to boost aid to Africa, state papers reveal
