Harry’s new court move in UK security battle
THE Duke of Sussex has filed a second legal claim over security after his request to pay for police protection was rejected.
Only last month Prince Harry won the right to bring a High Court challenge against the Home Office over his security arrangements in the UK. Now he wants a review of a decision which said he would not be allowed to pay for police protection while visiting from the US.
Yesterday it was confirmed he has filed a fresh claim at the High Court against the Home Office, also naming the Metropolitan Police as a second defendant.
Harry first launched legal action after he was told he would no longer be given the ‘same degree’ of personal protection after stepping back from the Royal Family in 2020. The lawsuit will reportedly focus on a decision by the Royal and VIP Executive Committee (RAVEC), under the remit of the Home Office, that individuals should not be allowed to pay privately to receive police protection.
A court spokesman said yesterday: ‘It is at an early stage, no hearings have been listed yet and no decisions have been made.’
In December 2021, the Home Office asked RAVEC to determine whether individuals who did not justify protective security should be permitted to receive it ‘but to reimburse the public purse for the cost’. RAVEC ‘unanimously’ decided individuals should not be permitted to privately fund police protection.
It said officers providing protective security ‘are expected to place themselves in harm’s way to protect their principal’, a duty which is justified only ‘ where the State has determined that the public interest requires it’.
Any decision to permit private funding would ‘constitute a precedent of uncertain scope’ and would be ‘likely to reduce the availability of a limited specialist resource’.
Last night a Met Police spokesman said: ‘We will not be commenting on this matter with legal proceedings ongoing.’
Prince Harry’s lawyers Schillings were contacted but have yet to comment.