Meghan Markle has faced “disgusting and very real” threats to her life, according to Met Police’s former counterterror chief Neil Basu.
The police chief, who retired this week after 30 years in the force, has confirmed Meghan and her husband Prince Harry have been seriously targeted by far-right terrorists.
During an interview with Channel 4, Basu said the threats were investigated and “people have been prosecuted for those threats.”
“There were many serious, credible threats against Meghan Markle emanating from the far-right?”
“Absolutely.”
Former head of counter terrorism for the Met Police, Neil Basu, tells @cathynewman about the “disgusting and very real” threats Prince Harry and Meghan Markle faced. pic.twitter.com/JPqfBFaCDO
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) November 29, 2022
When asked how he would “characterize the threats that Meghan and Harry received”, the former counterterror chief replied: “Well, disgusting and very real.”
After the Channel 4 reporter said, “There were many serious, credible threats against Meghan Markle emanating from the far right?” he said, “Absolutely, and if you’d seen the stuff that was written and you were receiving it…”
“The kind of rhetoric that’s online, if you don’t know what I know, you would feel under threat all of the time.”
Basu was then asked: “So you were convinced that there was a genuine threat to Meghan’s life on, you know, more than one occasion, on several occasions?”
He responded: “Absolutely. We had teams investigating it and people have been prosecuted for those threats.”
According to royal biography Finding Freedom, written by royal watchers Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, Meghan underwent SAS training after being sent “absolutely terrifying” threats shortly after her relationship with Prince Harry became public.
The former actress took part in a mock kidnapping, and was taught how to establish a relationship with her abductors at the SAS HQ in Hereford.
A source told the book’s authors that Meghan found the experience “extremely intense and scary”.
An aide also told them: “There have been some absolutely terrifying and stomach churning threats made to Meghan since she started dating Harry. Unfortunately, they continued for some time.”
The book also revealed how Meghan “barely slept” after security teams intercepted an envelope that was feared to contain the deadly toxin Anthrax.
The authors wrote: “While on the outside it seemed to be much like any other piece of mail received by the busy mail room based at Clarence House, this one was filled with racist musings and unidentified white powder.”
“The material feared to be anthrax, turned out to be harmless. At least physically. The night of the incident, though, Meghan barely slept, later admitting to a friend that she worried the incident was her ‘new normal’.
“A good friend of Meghan’s called her Grace Under Fire, because despite whatever pressure she was under, she didn’t fall apart.”
The book’s authors also revealed how Meghan and Harry were given a “wake up call” after Russian hackers stole hundreds of their personal photos in September 2018.
The authors wrote: “On September 12 2018, a computer programmer based in Russia managed to hack an online cloud storage account that contained over two hundred unseen photos of Harry And Meghan that had been taken by the photographer Alexi Lubomirski.”
“Among the stole images were pictures of the couple sharing personal moments during their engagement photo series as well as others from their wedding day reception (including some of the Queen).”
“The large set also included outtakes with eyes half closed and other unflattering moments meant for the trash can,” they continued.
“The hacker leaked a handful of photos to Tumblr (photo sharing site) Many fans assumed they were fake, photo shopped images but behind the scenes there was concern at Kensington Palace when they received a tip about the security breach.”
“Harry and Meghan were alarmed to hear that it was so easy to get such personal files of theirs.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were stripped of their UK taxpayer-funded police protection when they stepped down as senior working royals in March 2020.
However, Harry has since launched legal action against the Home Office over its decision not to grant him police protection while he is in the UK.
In July, the 38-year-old won his bid to bring a judicial review into the decision to remove his full police protection.
The review is on the grounds that he should have been informed about the Home Office’s security policy before the decision was made. A date has not yet been set for the judicial review.
After stepping down as senior working royals in March 2020, the couple moved to California – where they reside with their children Archie, 3, and Lilibet, 1.
