He aint heavy he's my brother..

My brother Antony is featured in the Guardian today-speaking as a bodyguard 'advisor'. That's not him in the picture by the way!



A bodyguard talks

What is it like to guard a celebrity during their more intimate moments?



A bodyguard

'Close protection officers' must allow their high-profile clients a degree of privacy. Photograph: Alamy

Prince Harry and Chelsy Davy reportedly celebrated Valentine's Day with an ­"intimate" dinner at the west London restuarant Julie's. But with a royal bodyguard almost certainly close at hand, just how "intimate" could this dinner ­really have been? Tony Hughes, ­managing director of Liverpool-based security firm GDM, ­explains how a "close ­protection officer", or CPO, would approach such a situation.

We instil in all our ­prospective CPOs that the principal [or client] has to be entitled to a degree of privacy. They will be privy to personal information and secrets, but it must always remain private. They are in a position of trust.

Yes, it can be unusual if the principal is having an intimate dinner with a wife or girlfriend. It can take them time to get used to it, too. The royal family have always been used to it, but newcomers might find it hard. Princess Diana famously did.

Depending on the risks, we will employ a "security advance party" to assess a restaurant or hotel ahead of the principal's arrival. Once the principal gets there we try to give them as much of a free rein as possible. For example, when they need to use the toilet, we will accompany them but will stand outside the door. If three or four men suddenly appear and go into the toilet we will go in too and wash our hands just to reassure ourselves.

Sometimes you'll be with a principal who's married, and you know that what they're ­doing – say, going out with other women – does not fit with you own personal morals, but that simply can't come into it.

Often a girlfriend or boyfriend will try to put pressure on the principal to dispense with their security team for a period of time, but we have to stick to the protocols that have been agreed in advance.
Original source-http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/feb/17/bodyguard-celebrity-intimate-moments