Forty men who would die to protect the Royalty

Press, 4 January 1978, Page 12

Forty men who would die to protect the Royalty

By

GILLIAN FRANKS

He must be tough, dis» creet, a crack shot with rifle and revolver, be on call 24 hours a day .. . and be unhesitatingly prepared to lay down his life for the Royal family. Ail for a basic wage of around £BO a week. Those are the qualifications for a place in the world’s most elite band of bodyguards — the 40strong Royal Protection Group which looks after tne Queen and members of the Royal family. The new recruit, currently being selected from over 200 applicants, will protect the Queen Mother, whose personal bodyguard recently retired. The Royal Protection Group is tiny compared with the security services that look after other heads of State — President Carter is guarded by over 1000 men in Washington alone — but has an international reputation for ruthless efficiency. Indeed, since Chief

Superintendent Michael Trestrail, aged 46, took over control two years ago, the group has become an almost commando-type corps not afraid to deal out rough treatment to anyone attempting to get too close to the Roval family. Trestrail knows only too well that the people he protects are high on the

list of kidnap targets — as shown three years ago when Princess Anne’s bodyguard, Inspector James Beaton, was wounded by .. man trying to abduct the Princess. Beaton was later awarded the George Cross. In the last few months, security at the Royal homes has been drastically tightened. Recently, for instance, all staff were issued with sealed identity

cards which must be produced at any time on des mand. And security men are making a point of stopping anyone, from the Comptroller of the Household to the youngest page, and carefully checking their credentials. This is to cut down the number of people who gatecrash the Royal homes

— last year nearly 100 tried to get into the Buckingham Palace grounds, and a surprising number succeeded. It is said that the incident which sparked off the new security measures took place after one of last year’s Royal garden parties when a guest was found wandering in the Queen’s private garden. Had he been an assassin, by simply opening a

pair of unlocked French windows he would have been in the Queen’s drawing room.

Soon afterwards, a massive new electronic alarm system was installed and Chief Superintendent Trestrail flew to Washington to consult with White House security men on ways of guarding the Queen and her family more effectively.

The American experts are said to have recommended that the task of keeping the Royal family safe should be the job of the nation’s security organisations rather than the police, but Trestrail and his men have always resisted this suggestion. While British politicians are guarded by Special Branch detectives, Royal security remains in the hands of the uniformed branch of “A” Division of the Metropolitan Police who provide both the plain-clothes bodyguards and the uniformed men who guard the Royal homes.

On the Royal train they man a special compartment containing guns, ammunition and a shortwave radio transmitter, and Trestrail, always armed, rides in the

Queen’s car on all publid occasions.

A London-born bachelor, he lives alone in a small West End flat and became Prince Philip’s bodyguard in 1966. The turning point in his career came six i years ago when he joined a “cabinet” of top police-1 men given the job of reviewing Royal security | measures. Trestrail apparently urged for tougher pre- | cautions to be taken and in the last two years has j seen them carried out “In the old days the bodyguards were very courteous and gentlemanly,” says a photographer who has covered many Royal tours.

“Nowadays they are tough young chaps who will elbow you out of the way without hesitation.” The man who gets the job of guarding the Queen Mother will almost certainly be someone with a country background and an interest in racing and fishing — the Queen Mother’s two great loves. At 77, she is still a skilled salmon angler and spends most of her Scottish holidays each August waist deep in fast-. flowing streams. Her bodyguard will be expected to do the same.