Prince Harry’s Legal Battle To Get UK Police Protection For Himself, Meghan, Archie, And Lilibet Begins
A legal representative for Prince Harry announced that he was challenging a decision by the Home Office not to allow his family police protection when he is in the UK.
Harry says he feels “unable” to bring his wife and children to the country without it.
But UK officials have defended their decision.
Last month, a legal representative for Prince Harry announced that he was challenging a decision by the Home Office not to allow his family police protection when he is in the UK, saying he feels “unable” to bring his wife and children to the country without it. And today a procedural hearing for his legal action was held at the High Court, during which documents showed Government lawyers have defended their decision.
Per the BBC, Robert Palmer QC, lawyer for the Home Secretary, wrote in submissions to the court that the Prince had “failed to afford the necessary measure of respect” to the expert bodies who had made the decision. He also wrote that Harry’s offer to pay for his police protection was “irrelevant” as the option to pay for it was not available.
It was revealed in January that Harry was seeking a judicial review of the decision not to give him and his family police protection. In a statement, his legal representative said that Harry had “inherited a security risk at birth, for life,” that his private security team “cannot replicate the necessary police protection needed whilst in the UK,” and that without such protection “Prince Harry and his family are unable to return to his home.” The statement cited his visit home in July 2021 to unveil the statue of Princess Diana, saying that his “security was compromised” when leaving a charity event later that day.
His lawyer, Shaheed Fatima QC, said today that he does not feel safe when in the UK but that he wants to come back to see family and friends and support charities. “Most of all, this is and always will be his home,” she said.
The Sussexes received taxpayer-funded police protection when they were working royals but lost this when they stepped back in March 2020. The Royal and VIP Executive Committee (RAVEC) made the decision that once he had stepped back, the protection he received during visits to the UK would depend on the circumstances of the trip. Harry and Meghan have private security for their home in Montecito, California where they live with two-year-old Archie and eight-month-old Lilibet, who has never been to the UK.
Following today's procedural hearing the court will decide which material relating to the case will be kept private and which can be made public. It is not yet clear when or if the decision itself will be reviewed.
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