Meghan Markle has 'disgusting and very real' life threats in UK

The life of Meghan Markle in London wasn't quite idyllic.

The Duchess of Sussex faced real threats to her life when she was a resident of the UK, according to a recent interview with Channel 4 News with the former head of counterterrorism for the Metropolitan Police.

In an interview published on Tuesday, Neil Basu discussed the troubling claims that led to his resignation as the Met Police's Assistant Commissioner for Specialized Operations.

After 30 years on the force, Basu, 54, is retiring. During that time, he received the Queen's Police Medal for outstanding contribution and, beginning in March 2018, held the position of senior-most officer in the Met Police's counterterrorism unit, two months before Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's royal wedding.

"You were in charge of royal protection. How would you characterize the threats that Meghan and Harry received?" journalist Cathy Newman asked in a quick clip shared on Twitter.

"Well, disgusting and very real," Basu replied, calling extreme right-wing terrorism the "fast-growing threat" to the country.

"But there were many serious, credible threats against Meghan, were there? Emanating from the far-right?" Newman chimed in.

"Absolutely, and if you'd seen the stuff that was written and you were receiving it… the kind of rhetoric that's online, if you don't know what I know, you would feel under threat all of the time," he replied.

Basu had a terrifying response when asked if the Duchess of Sussex's life had actually been in danger more than once.

"Absolutely. We had teams investigating it. People have been prosecuted for those threats," he said.