Princess Bea's bodyguard left red-faced as her car is stolen
PRINCESS Beatrice’s police bodyguard faces disciplinary action after her BMW was stolen when she left the ignition keys in the unlocked car while buying a sandwich.
The hapless royal protection officer will carry the can after failing to check that the fifth in line to the throne had removed her keys and locked the £15,000 car, a 17th birthday present from her father Prince Andrew with personalised number plates.
An investigation was under way last night as police searched for the black 1 Series BMW, stolen in London’s West End by an opportunistic thief who drove off at high speed.
The BMW was not fitted with a tracking device – routine with vehicles used by the Royal Family – because it is the Princess’s private car.
Beatrice, 20, told friends she was hugely embarrassed but courtiers were asking last night why her protection officer missed her mistake.
How on earth he allowed her to leave the car unlocked and with the keys in, God only knows.
“How on earth he allowed her to leave the car unlocked and with the keys in, God only knows,” said one.
Beatrice, who frequently drives the car, was at the wheel on Wednesday when she nipped into the shop in Devonshire Place, just south of Regent’s Park, on her way to see a friend. Her minder accompanied her and immediately radioed for help when they emerged to find the car had gone.
A patrol car arrived and was followed by another car bringing Beatrice’s sister, Princess Eugenie, 18, who was travelling to see the same friend. They all went into a nearby pub while witnesses were questioned.
“They looked very cool and it didn’t seem anything was wrong,” the pub’s manager Fei Hameed said.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “No arrests have been made and the car has not been recovered.”
The case threatens to revive a controversy over the estimated £250,000-a-year cost to the taxpayer of protecting Beatrice and a similar amount spent on her 18-year-old sister Princess Eugenie.
Some Scotland Yard officers have privately argued that there is no justification for giving Prince Andrew’s two daughters around-the-clock protection, while others may now question the value of the minders’ work.