Bodyguards have never been in more demand than they are today. The world is becoming an increasingly dodgy place. Politicians, royalty, the rich and famous have had to put up with attacks by kidnappers, burglars and assorted nutters throughout the years but now a lot of mere mortals are finding themselves in the firing line too.
Take the England WAGs heading off to the Euros in Germany this summer. Reports suggest the girls are spending six figures on private bodyguards amid fears of a new level of terrorist threat. Meanwhile, the Paris Olympics 2024 is expected to be a hotbed of private security activity. France has even asked its foreign allies to send several thousand members of their security forces to help guard The Games.
The list of people hiring bodyguards even includes scientists who experiment on animals, doctors who perform abortions, factory bosses who lay off workers, judges convicting criminals, and anyone daring to mug off Allah. Not to mention Prince Harry, who has – tiny violin at the ready – been left to pay for his own security detail when visiting the UK.
Of course, they’re not really called bodyguards, it’s just that Kevin Costner would never have accepted the lead role in a film called ‘Close Protection Officer’. Being a CPO or bodyguard also demands a bit more than being a seven-foot-tall simian wearing dark glasses and sporting an earpiece. To qualify as a bodyguard your brains need to be as big, if not bigger, than your biceps. Business management, psychology and diplomacy are as important as being able to keep up with Claire Underwood in House of Cards as she jogs around a cemetery or disarm a would-be assassin with a deftly placed judo chop.
You can forget any Alan Partridge ‘move and fire’ techniques too – it’s illegal for bodyguards to carry guns in the UK. Pepper spray, mace, batons and tasers are also out. Leaving CPOs with little more than a death stare, a decent Chinese burn and a planned escape route. In fact, key attributes for the job are patience, punctuality, integrity and the ability to stay alert for long periods. It’s rarely about taking a bullet.
“You also have to be able to have a conversation with the principal [the protected subject]: to be able to talk about current affairs, what’s going on in their country, to converse about the stock market or the financial industry – and you need to know a bit about their politics,” says John Moore, managing director of Westminster Security, whose security firm will be operating in both Germany and France in the coming weeks and months.
In other words, if you’re minding Usher in a restaurant for the evening but some drunken gorilla takes exception to his Superbowl halftime performance and decides to have a go, your knowledge of where the nearest fire exit is will probably leave less of a mess than trying to “take out the contact” across a tableful of pulled pork and the finest Wolf Blass Merlot.
The number of close protection officers in the UK stands at around 15,000 and about 750 of those are women. Most are self-employed and on a day rate of around £200-£500. The average yearly salary of £60,000 seems hardly worth it when you consider nutters like Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), an offshoot of ISIS, are bang in form after slaughtering 140 people in Moscow. Indeed, danger levels across Europe have been raised to new levels in the wake of the atrocity, with the German and French authorities on high alert.
Curiously, female bodyguards can earn twice as much as men, as Middle Eastern royalty visiting Europe tend to prefer women CPOs who can blend into the background better compared to burly bodybuilders. “We fly female CPOs in from all over Europe in the summer and they can walk away with between £10,000 and £15,000 a month,” says Moore.
England WAGs reported to be sharing the cost of close protection officers at the Euros include Fern Maguire and Megan Pickford, as well as Jack Grealish’s girlfriend Sasha Attwood and Buyaka Saka’s partner Tomali Benson. In a further damning indictment of Gareth Southgate’s defensive options, the group are said to be looking to hire ex-military specialists instead of the FA’s own security team.
But while a large majority of bodyguards have previous military or police experience, it’s not a prerequisite. “We’ve had some great guys and girls with no military experience who’ve come out of being chauffeurs or private client environments, and sometimes the skills they have are more valuable – they are already attuned to and can anticipate the needs of a client, for example,” says Moore. “The key is to keep the principal away from danger – but that’s done by research, reconnaissance and developing that sixth sense for impending danger – so that you wouldn’t need firearms, or need to get physical.”
According to Germany's Interior Minister, Nancy Faeser, threats facing the girls at the Euros include terror groups, extremists, hooligans and other violent organised gangs. “One thing can be said for sure, the dangers have reached a new level,” says Faeser, adding Germany is “arming itself even more strongly against all current threats”
As for Paris, Moore warns “the police have taken their eye off the ball, adding: “The ongoing terrorist threat in France means that Paris and other large cities have seen a surge in demand for close protection services. In theory, you are probably safer now in Paris than ever before. However, with protests, terrorism, and civil disruption, the authorities are at breaking point. Police and security services are extremely stretched. Who knows how long the current ‘show-of-force’ by security services can last?”
[Box] Loaded’s top five favourite bodyguards
Frank Underwood’s fictional bodyguard from the hit Netflix series House of Cards, [spoiler alert] Meechum was hired to protect first lady, Claire Underwood – a role he carried out with such undying loyalty that he was subsequently treated to a drunken threesome with the president and his wife.
4/ Clint Hill
Not to be confused with his former QPR centre-back namesake, this former U.S. Secret Service agent served under five presidents. He is notorious for jumping into the back of the cabriolet holding JFK’s body and wrapping the President’s “exploded head” (Hill’s words) in his own jacket to protect his dignity from the press.
3/ Roustom Raza
The movie Ridley Scott should have made, Raza became Napoleon's bodyguard at 15. As f***** up childhoods go, growing up in Georgia before being sold into slavery in Egypt and eventually being gifted to a warmongering French gimp takes the croissant. Razmadze served as Napoleon's CPO for 15 years before refusing to follow him into exile. Fair.
2/ Laurence Tureaud, aka ‘Mr T’
Seemingly bored with protecting clients including Muhammed Ali, Michael Jackson, Bruce Lee, Steve McQueen and Diana Ross, Tureaud ditched bodyguarding to become a global superstar with acting roles in Rocky III and legendary 80s action series The A-Team. Now aged 71, the born-again Christian is very much alive, kicking and comfortably well off in Chicago, Illinois.
The Russian supermodel turned KGB-trained badass owned an all-female bodyguard company called ‘Dagger’ before being killed in a carjacking aged just 29. Loginova died from head injuries in 2008 after clinging to the door handle of her Porsche Cayenne and being dragged along a street at high speed.