Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ditched the UK after their demand to be ‘half-in-half-out’ royals was refused – six years later and they want to have their cake and eat it all over again. Every British citizen has the right to be safe on our streets and taxes fund the police, but Brits also have a long history of fair play – and fair pay.

If a celebrity jets into the UK to spend millions of quid at Harrods they would naturally want to be safe but would not expect UK taxpayers to fund a large, armed police security detail. So why does a Californian-based non-working royal, raking in £75m from Netflix and £20m from his book Spare, think a nation facing a cost-of-living crisis should fork out for his security detail, let alone police protection officers?

Because that appears to be Harry’s demands on King Charles if he wants the Sussexes to bring Archie and Lilibet over from the States to the UK this summer.

The King clearly does not personally choose who gets police protection officers, but reports claim if Charles formally invites the Sussexes for a summer visit to Sandringham, that protection would be extended to them.

A source close to the Duke has said: “If he [Harry] was invited by the King, he would get a security package that automatically kicks in.”

Harry will be in the UK in July to mark one year until the Invictus Games in Birmingham and for a WellChild event. At that same time King Charles is likely to either be at Balmoral or Sandringham.

It comes as Home Office officials fear reinstating taxpayer-funded security for Harry will spark a public backlash over cost – considering Harry is loaded. The Royal and VIP Executive Committee is assessing whether to reinstate their security.

The source added that the Duke of Sussex, 41, would bring Meghan, Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4, with him to see their grandfather in Norfolk if they were welcomed.

The key part of that is ‘if welcomed’ – Queen Camilla is surely not itching to give cheeky old Harry a big hug and a squeeze.

More like a punch in the gob.

Let’s look at what Harry said about her in his book Spare. “I had complex feelings about gaining a step parent who, I believed, had recently sacrificed me on her personal PR altar. In a funny way I even wanted Camilla to be happy. Maybe she’d be less dangerous if she was happy?”

He also branded her a “wicked stepmother” who tried to rehabilitate her own image by briefing against him.

Hard for Harry to take a moral high ground here as he made explosive claims against Camilla in order to sell his book. Pot, kettle, black.

Maybe William and Catherine will be eager for the Sussexes to jet back this summer?

In Spare, Harry claimed there was a rift between Meghan and Catherine; claimed William “pointed a finger at Meg” that prompted her to respond: “Keep your finger out of my face!” and he snitched on William again by saying he once knocked him to the floor. Who knows, maybe Harry deserved it?

Harry even tried to blame William and Catherine for his decision to wear a Nazi uniform on Halloween in 2005, saying he asked them to choose his outfit and they both chirped: “Nazi uniform!”

Err, OK – maybe King Charles at the very least will be pleased to see his wayward, conspiracy-obsessed son?

Ah. Slight problem there.

In Spare Harry slammed his dad as being “not cut out for single parenting”, accused Charles of branding him “a spare” on the day he was born and being a distant and aloof father who told him things that “simply weren’t true”.

So Harry basically branded our King a liar. That’s awkward.

Harry and King Charles have had only two brief meetings in as many years and Harry is wondering why?

Yes, if the Sussexes come to the UK this summer there should be a ring of steel – to protect the Royal Family’s reputation from being further trashed in public by Harry and Meghan for their latest blockbuster book.