One of the routes we tried was submitting a freedom of information request to the Metropolitan Police, asking if any royal protection officers accompanied the former prince to the Woking branch 25 years ago.<\/p>\n
In response, the force said it could “neither confirm nor deny” whether it holds this information, citing “national security” among other reasons.<\/p>\n
“Confirming or denying that information is held would reveal whether protection had been afforded to a specific individual other than the King and the prime minister,” the Met said in reply to us.<\/p>\n
This is despite Scotland Yard previously referring to Mountbatten-Windsor’s close protection officers, including in a press statement issued in February<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Met’s response has drawn criticism from Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey.<\/p>\n “Of course the police are rightly very careful about giving any information about who they give special protection too,” he told the BBC. <\/p>\n “I completely understand that and it’s right. But too often we see these types of ‘neither confirm nor deny’ answers where there really isn’t a legitimate security reason \u2013 and I think that’s what’s happening here.”<\/p>\n He called for an “exception” to be made by the force to reveal the information.<\/p>\n “I really can’t see how revealing that Andrew had police protection 25 years ago would play into the hands of terrorists as the Met claims,” he added.<\/p>\n Giuffre died by suicide in April 2025 aged 41<\/a>.<\/p>\n