Meghan Markle: NBCUniversal Foots Bill for Actress’ Protection

Meghan Markle, the girlfriend of Prince Harry, is being protected around the clock by a security team paid for by her employers.

The team is understood to have been hired locally in Toronto, where the Suits star lives, but well-placed sources said that the bill is being footed by NBCUniversal, the American media giant which makes her TV show, Legal Drama Suits.

The detail was engaged because of Markle's growing profile, fueled this week by her first public appearance with the prince, at his Invictus Games in Toronto.

Although there is not understood to be a specific threat, the combination of her growing public profile and an awareness that Harry has claimed there have been social media attacks on Markle for her biracial heritage appeared to have prompted to move.

Although the actress, 36, briefly enjoyed protection from bodyguards during Saturday night's Invictus Games opening ceremony, boyfriend Prince Harry, 33, is not funding the detail.

Currently, Los Angeles-born Meghan is not entitled to taxpayer-funded protection in Canada because she is not an official member of the royal family.

However, if the couple were to become engaged and she were to remain in Toronto, it is likely that her security would be taken over by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who provide protective services to the royals while they're in the country.

If she were to move to the UK after an engagement, it is likely that she would follow in the footsteps of Kate Middleton, who was given Scotland Yard Royal Protection Officers when she became engaged to Prince William in 2010.

Prior to becoming engaged to Prince William, the Duchess of Cambridge was looked after by a security team paid for by her now-husband using his private fortune.

Harry, who also has a private income, could have done the same for Meghan but it is her employer who has stepped in, along with funding Meghan's personal protection team.

NBCUniversal is also understood to have paid for security measures at her home and on the suits set at Meghan's rented home, in Toronto's Hippenex district.

New security cameras have been installed front and back, and the team performs regular sweeps of the street.

Neighbours told DailyMail.com that security becomes even more intense when Harry is staying at the home, with one saying the street is full of police when he is there.

The prince stayed at Markle's home last Friday night before the opening ceremony of the Games.

One resident, who asked not to be named, added, “She hasn't been around much for the last few days.

Friday night they were here, I tell you, when he's Harry here, the street is full of police and security people, they just go straight in and they don't come out.”

Kensington Palace declined to comment.

NBCUniversal has been approached for comment by Daily Mail TV.

Harry, who is in Toronto for the Invictus Games, is staying at the four-star Fairmont Royal York Hotel and was joined there on Saturday night by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Rooms at the property start at $277 per night and go up to $1,875 for the 16-room royal suite.

The royal has apparently sneaked Markle into his room each night.

Harry, who has been dating the Californian actress for 14 months, is understood to have arrived in Toronto few days before the start of the Invictus Games.

During that time, he paid a visit to the suit set where he was shown around by a proud Meghan.

The show is due to continue filming until the end of the year but it has not yet been revealed whether Meghan plans to sign on for another season.

The series' Invictus Games will end on Saturday with a closing concert at the Air Canada Centre.

Bryan Adams and Bruce Springsteen are among the acts scheduled to perform in front of an audience that will include Prince Harry, and possibly Markle as well.

The ramping up of security has limited Markle's previously prominent place on the Toronto social scene.

Shailen Govani, a social chronicler at the Toronto Sun, described the actress as being on lockdown to DailyMail.com and said she has virtually disappeared from the social scene.

“She sort of disappeared,” he explained.

“She hasn't been showing up to parties since the news broke of her relationship with Harry.

She's been on lockdown.”

Before then Markle had been a fixture on the social circuit of Canada's largest city.

Govani, an acquaintance of Meghan's, met her through close friend Corey Vitiello, a high-profile chef who enjoyed a romance with the actress prior to Harry.

Other friends she was seen with included Sophie Griguot-Trudeau, the prime minister's wife, and Jessica Moroney, the 37-year-old stylist daughter-in-law of Brian Moroney, the former Canadian prime minister.

Vitiello, who was cooking at a private dinner at the opposite end of town the night Meghan made her very public Invictus Games debut, has never spoken about the relationship.

”Everything there revolves around that need for security now,” Govani said.