Meghan Markle faced 'very real threats in the UK,' says former police chief

Before Meghan Markle and Prince Harry moved to the US, the couple faced heavy scrutiny from the public - especially Meghan.

When the Duchess of Sussex became engaged to Prince Harry in 2017, she began facing intense sexist and racist bullying from people online and media outlets.

Now a former top Metropolitan Police official is revealing that threats made against Meghan were "very real" and "disgusting".

In an interview with Channel 4News, Neil Basu, the former assistant commissioner for specialist operations said there has “absolutely” been a genuine threat to Meghan’s life on multiple occasions.

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“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 said.

Basu worked at the Met Police for 30 years, he stepped down from his role in November.

Having worked in counter-terrorism policing while at the Met, Basu was in charge of royal protection and witnessed the bullying Meghan faced daily.

"We had teams of people investigating it," he said. "People have been prosecuted for those threats."

He called those threats "disgusting and very real."

During an explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey, Prince Harry and Meghan spoke about some of the hate they received while serving as working members of the Royal Family.

The couple attributed the bullying as part of the reason they stepped down from their roles and moved to the US, however, security concerns remain at the forefront of their minds.

During their interview with Oprah, the couple expressed their concern that the Royal Family had cut off their security detail leaving them unprotected from the very threats that plagued them while in the UK.

Besides physical protection, the two have also retreated from their public-facing roles because of negative media coverage, which contributed to bullying.

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