Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Are Facing Security Threats at Their Montecito Home

• Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are facing repeated security threats (opens in new tab) at their home in Montecito, Santa Barbara.
• Police have been called to their house nine times since they moved in last July, the Telegraph reports.
• In December, an Ohio man trespassed on the Sussexes' property twice (opens in new tab).

This is awful: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are facing repeated security threats at their Montecito home, with police called to the couple's house nine times since they moved in last July. According to data from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, police responded to calls described as "phone requests, alarm activations and property crimes," the Telegraph reports (opens in new tab). 

Four of the calls occurred last July, the month the Sussexes moved into their new home, according to the Telegraph, with one recorded as a phone request and the others as alarm activations. Police were also called to the house in August, November, December, and January.

The December police callouts concerned a trespassing incident (opens in new tab), which saw a man travel from Ohio to California in order to breach the Sussexes' property on both December 24 and December 26. The man was let off with a warning after the first breach, but was arrested and charged after the second.

The Telegraph's report comes after Meghan and Harry shared concerns about their security in their interview with Oprah Winfrey (opens in new tab). Meghan told Winfrey that the royals didn't want to make son Archie a prince, thus preventing him from receiving security, and revealed that she had begged the royal family not to withdraw Harry's security after the couple stepped back as senior royals. The Sussexes also said they signed their Netflix and Spotify deals in order to pay for their own security, after the royals cut Harry off financially.

"I even wrote letters to his family saying, 'Please, it's very clear the protection of me or Archie is not a priority. I accept that. That is fine. Please keep my husband safe. I see the death threats. I see the racist propaganda. Please keep him safe. Please don't pull his security and announce to the world when he and we are most vulnerable,'" Meghan said, as BuzzFeed News reports (opens in new tab).

Harry, too, shared his surprise at having his security removed. "I never thought that I would have my security removed, because I was born into this position. I inherited the risk. So that was a shock to me. That was what completely changed the whole plan," he told Winfrey.