Ex-Royal safety officer questions Harry safety preparations

Prince Harry has flaunted his ‘presidential-style’ four-man security team on his ‘quasi-royal’ trip of Nigeria.

Critics have claimed the trip to the ninth most dangerous country in Africa is ‘hypocritical’ and have branded it the ‘Harry and Meghan show’. 

Former royal protection officer Dai Davies said: ‘Seeing all his presidential style security really does stick in the throat.

‘For a couple who say all they want is privacy to visit one of the most dangerous places in the world and that’s not me saying that, it’s the Foreign office as well, is crazy and you have to wonder why.

‘It would have been much safer and easier if wounded Nigerian soldiers were flown to London instead of having all this security and a vast expense to a country where many are living on less than £1.50 a day.

‘You have to ask yourself is it really all about the charities or is it the Harry and Meghan show.’

For their 72 hours ‘private trip’ Harry and Meghan have their own four-man security team which they have paid for themselves, and Nigeria is providing its own protection at a massive expense.

After the visit to General Musa which lasted an hour, the couple met wives of military personnel who had been waiting outside and at one point they were almost overwhelmed by the crowd.

It led to a clearly visibly anxious Harry leading Meghan by the hand quickly into their waiting car and they were whisked way for the next part of their trip, with Harry flying 120 miles north west of Abuja to visit a military hospital in Kaduna while Meghan attended a ‘private engagement’.

The tour continues today with the couple attending a volleyball match with injured servicemen in Abuja.

Prince Harry travelled alone when he visited a military hospital in Kaduna, a region dubbed a no go zone by the Foreign and Commonwealth development office, MailOnline can reveal.

Harry, who has questioned his own security in the UK, flew to the hospital around 120 miles north west of Abuja and apologised on his arrival that he had left Meghan back in the capital of the west African country.

After being welcomed by dancers on a red carpet, Harry told the audience: ‘I’m sorry that I didn’t bring my wife.

‘The focus here in Kaduna is the wounded, injured and sick men and women who serve in Nigerian forces and keep people safe.’

Sources told the Mail that Meghan had a private engagement and was due to meet up with harry on his return later on Friday.

Kaduna is one of the country’s most dangerous states, with nearly 2,000 abductions recorded in 2020, as well as reports of sexual violence including rape. 

The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to the area, which is partly ruled by armed bandits.

Before he left, Harry was given two paintings — one of him and his late mother Princess Diana and another of him and wife Meghan.

Then he was asked to put on another gift — an outfit of a traditional waistcoat and a ‘Big Gown’ which he needed help getting over his head.

And, with a slightly bemused look, he followed the suggestion that he put on a Hula cap too.

Harry toured about six wards seeing row after row of young men recuperating from their injuries. Many had been shot, ambushed by Boko Haram or lost limbs due to blasts.

He shook hands with around 50 former service personnel and told them:’ You are going to get better, get back on your feet.’

Half way round he was introduced to 2nd Lt. Princess Owowoh, 23, who had recently graduated from Sandhurst military academy where Harry trained to be an army officer.

Harry had written to her when he’d heard her story. ‘He wrote to congratulate me and say that they were coming to Nigeria and about the Invictus Games Foundation,’ she said.

‘The Invictus Games gives hope to the soldiers. It encourages them to walk towards a goal, to achieve something new.’

Harry and Meghan were given a rockstar welcome when they arrived in Nigeria on Friday with the couple mobbed by crowds of well-wishers.

Meghan, with longer hair, even wore an eye-catching backless dress by US designer Heidi Merrick called The Windsor.

The pair had flown first class on a British Airways flight, which was briefly delayed after the captain reported sick. Other passengers were held back while the royals disembarked the aircraft.

Not everyone welcomed the Sussexes ‘quasi-royal’ tour of the country however, with some questioning how Harry could visit such high risk zones while having previously raised concerns over his security back at home. 

Former royal protection officer Ken Wharfe, who accompanied the late Princess of Wales and the King to Nigeria in the early 1990s, told MailOnline that the trip laid bare Harry’s ‘hypocrisy’.

He said: ‘I went to Nigeria with Harry’s mother and father and it was pretty lawless back then and so you do have to question why he has gone there if he says the safety of his wife and children is uppermost.

‘If the situation deems that level of protection, then you do have to ask why he is there and for him to say he feels unsafe in London when he has all that security in London does leave you asking does it make sense to go.

‘He’s going to a high-risk country and I’m sure he will be looked after but he is a high level target and one that would certainly in the feather of anyone looking to make him a dramatic impact.’

Harry and Meghan have a four-person security team for their 72-hour visit to Nigeria for which they have paid themselves as well as additional protection provided by the west African country.

Their escort comprised ten army vehicles, two ambulances and three Toyota pickups with mounted machine guns.

While in Abuja, the couple visited the Lightway Academy college which receives support from their Archewell Foundation to educate and train young girls affected by conflicts in Nigeria.

As they kicked off an inaugural mental health summit organised by local non-profit Geanco, which partners their foundation, the couple were greeted by a dancing troupe and a crowd of excited students and teachers.

Meghan enthusiastically leapt to her feet as the children greeted them with their dancing. 

The Duchess posed for pictures in a room full of beaming schoolchildren, with one student even sharing a photo of Meghan with a caption reading ‘She’s literally so nice!’.

Meghan said: ‘We’ve got to acknowledge those amazing dance moves! My husband was excited to jump up!’

They spoke to the pupils about mental health, and about their own children, Archie and Lilibet.

Harry, in a linen shirt and trousers and like Meghan wearing a traditional Nigerian bead necklace, said: ‘In some cases around the world … there is a stigma when it comes to mental health.

‘Too many people don’t want to talk about it, so will you promise to us that after today, no more being scared, no more being unsure of mental health?’

As he finished, Meghan said: ‘You see why I’m married to him? He’s so smart. And so inspiring because he speaks the truth.’

In an anecdote to her daughter Lilibet, the Duchess said: ‘She’s about to turn three. And a few weeks ago she looked at me and she would just see the reflection in my eyes. And she [goes], “Mama, I see me in you”.

‘Now she was talking literally. But I hung on to those words in a very different way,’ she continued. ‘And I thought, yes, I do see me in you, and you see me in you.’

Meghan then told the class: ‘As I look around this room, I see myself in all of you as well.’

The couple will also visit non-governmental organisations which they support in Abuja and Lagos and attend basketball and volleyball matches.

Meghan will also co-host an event on women in leadership with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director general of the World Trade Organisation, according to their spokesman Charlie Gipson. 

Prince Harry flies to Nigerian no go zone famed for armed bandits and kidnappers but leaves Meghan 120 miles behind him after couple enjoyed action packed rockstar welcome to country on their ‘quasi royal tour