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By Jack Royston
Chief Royal Correspondent
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JD Vance has been mocked over the "ridiculous" scale of his motorcade during a holiday in the English countryside, by a former aide to Tony Blair.
Vance and his family—including his wife, Usha, 39, and children, Ewan, 8, Vivek, 5, and Mirabel, 3—pitched up this week at a manor house in the Cotswolds with a full entourage.
Why It Matters
And the scale of the security operation appears to have caught off guard some local residents who are used to King Charles III's more discrete team when he visits his home in the area, on Highgrove Estate.
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What People Are Saying
Alastair Campbell was Blair's Downing Street spokesman during his time as Labour Party Prime Minister but now co-hosts a podcast, The Rest is Politics, alongside Rory Stewart, a former Conservative Party MP who once ran for party leader.
On the latest episode, Campbell told Stewart: "He's then going around and, you know the Cotswolds, I mean, why does he have to have this? It's like a status symbol.
"I was talking to somebody who saw the security operation around Vance. They said it was ridiculous. To do a three-point turn the convoy needed about an hour, you know, when it got stuck down one of these little country roads.
"And he has an ambulance going after him. I mean, he's only the f****** Vice President of America.
"When the king—when your friend the king—wanders off down to Highgrove, what does he have? A couple of cars?"
Stewart said: "Exactly. Or when he's doing the Windsor Flower Show, he's going around shaking hand after hand after hand in the middle of a crowd in a way that American presidents or vice presidents never would."
One account on X went viral with 1.6 million views and 40k likes after joking: "Dear [U.S. flag], can you please come and get Vance back from our country? He's turned up with a 27-car entourage and is demanding to know the social media handles of local residents. It's not what we do here. Please come quickly."
Newsweek contacted the Vice President's Office for comment.
What to Know
Security is a hugely important subject to the royal family and Prince Harry mounted multiple lawsuits in an attempt to have his reinstated after quitting the palace in 2020.
However, the protection detail is generally substantially smaller than the Vance's even when attending official events.
Video footage showed Vance's convoy included 27 vehicles: four police motorcycle outriders, 21 unmarked cars with blacked out windows, seemingly a Ford F‑550 ambulance, and a marked police SUV.
By contrast, during a recent visit to the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, in July, the king's convoy included four cars and three police motorcycle outriders.
The backlash against Vance's security operation was not confined to political commentators, U.K. newspaper of record The Times spoke to two older women whose usual walking route was blocked by the policing operation.
"I told the police 'we are two old ladies, we are hardly terrorists'," one said. "We said 'you poor things, guarding this awful man'. It must be costing us a fortune. Another few thousand pounds down the pan."
Roads and footpaths were shut, sniffer dogs deployed, and checkpoints erected, leaving elderly locals frustrated at unexpected lockdowns around their hamlet.
Vance traveled to the Cotswolds from a private fishing retreat at Chevening, the grace and favor estate of the British Foreign Secretary, currently David Lammy.
On the way, he had a private tour of Hampton Court Palace, which delayed public opening times, before he continued on to the Grade-II–listed manor in the Cotswolds.
Upon reaching the historic Dean Manor in Oxfordshire, the motorcade set up a full-scale security perimeter.
Meanwhile, The Times quoted Johnny and Pippa Hornby, the millionaire owners of Dean Manor, who apologized to locals for "the circus for the next few days," saying they hoped it would not be "too disruptive."
Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek*, based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on* Newsweek*'s* The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about Charles and Queen Camilla, William and Kate, Meghan Markle and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
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