WK, I am no royalist. I am a realist.

Many families have wealth amassed from centuries past. Much of it came to them from the toil of the working people they employed, at a pittance. That is still carrying on today. Slavery is far from extinct. We have, as a nation, taken much from other countries throughout history, true, but other countries have also taken from each other. We are not alone as a nation, neither are the Royal Family, as people.

I do not hear you bringing Salman Rushdie into this argument. He too has had his life 'protected' by the British taxpayer for a very long time, with very little thanks being given for that, from things I have read. It has cost us millions I think. However, we believe in free speech in this country and so have entirely backed someone whose life was threatened, purely for writing a book. Many people have to live under police protection for various reasons, often for a very long time. Where is your raging voice about that?

Harry, now it has been revealed he has fought in Iraq, has become 'a target'. He will remain so for many years to come. Those who choose 'never to forget' seldom do, and I would not want to be in that young man's shoes for all the wealth his family have 'amassed'over the centuries. Not only that, but those who are close to him, particularly his girlfriends, now and in the future, and eventually his wife and children, will also become, and possibly remain 'targets' for a very long time.

Harry was right to ask for protection for those about him, particularly at the moment. He did not ask for this news to be leaked, and no doubt, had it not, then he would not be in this position now, and in the foreseeable future, nor would his girlfriend. If it were my daughter, or yours, no doubt you would think differently?


Basically, when the news was 'leaked' Harry's life changed overnight.

He, and his brother, have always been targets for various people, but now, Harry has moved up the list somewhat. I expect he knew this would happen, when he thought about going to Iraq, but he still chose to go, feeling himself to be 'just a soldier' along with the rest of his comrades. However the repercussions of that decision may come to haunt him for a long time.

Yes, his grandmother and father could afford to pay for the protection themselves, but if that is the case, then every soldier who comes back from Iraq, whose name is released to the press, should surely also be made to pay for protection themselves? You cannot have one rule for one, and one for another, can you? Does Salman Rushdie still receive protection? I've no idea, but I'm sure he too could probably afford to pay for his own bodyguards these days. His life will always be in danger I should imagine. Harry though, is an even greater target, now.

MI5? Theories will abound forevermore. At the end of the day though, that night in Paris, two young boys simply lost the mother they adored.

She gave them more love than possibly the rest of their family put together, she cuddled them and loved them, laughed with them, and cried with them. She took them into hostels, into hospitals, into local burger bars, and local funparks. She gave them 'their people' not wrapped up in jewels and designer furs, but in Aids Wards and places for the homeless, in the high streets and the shops.

However she died, for whatever reason, and by whoever's hand, Harry and William are the ones who suffered that night, more than this nation, more than the Royal Family.

I was there, in London, very shortly before her funeral and I will never forget the overwhelming silence of thousands of people, walking the pavements towards Kensington Palace. It was an Army. Not a sound, not a word was heard, other than the call of the newspaper sellers, wanting to make their money from her, even has she lay, not far away in St. James's. The over-powering scent of that ocean of flowers will never leave me. In the midst of it all stood one horse, stock still, the policeman on his back watching the scene with the saddest of expressions. The flowers reached the knees of his horse, but that beautiful animal stood there as silent as the people who had brought them.

Her son's life will now be in danger, for simply doing what every other soldier is called upon to do, yet the majority of soldiers are able to return home to live their lives without incident or worry. Harry can no longer do that. His life is already 'police protected' It is only right that those closest to him are now brought under that umbrella of safety.

Think on this WK, if his mother had been allowed to keep HER police protection, she may still be alive today. Therefore I do not begrudge her sons one single penny.

The powers that be can take it out of what they saved on Diana.