Prince Harry’s Lawyer Warns His ‘Life Is at Stake’ Over Security in The UK: 'One Must Not...'
Prince Harry, determined to protect his family, continues to challenge the dismissal of his High Court claim to reinstate his security.
Prince Harry’s legal battle over security arrangements is far from over. The Duke, who is appealing the dismissal of his lawsuit to reinstate his security, is determined to ensure his family’s protection. On the final day of his legal challenge, his lawyer, Shaheed Fatima KC, stated that his life would be in danger without proper security while in the UK.
Harry is contesting a 2020 decision by the U.K. government that denied his family automatic taxpayer-funded police protection in Britain. As reported by The Independent, Fatima KC told the court during the closing submission, “One must not forget the human dimension to this case. There is a person sitting behind me whose safety, whose security, and whose life is at stake.”
During his hearing on April 9, Harry was diligently seen taking notes alongside his legal team in London. Explaining how decisions over his security were made in a ‘unique set of circumstances’, a lawyer for the Home Office told the court, “There is nothing about the appellant’s announcement in January 2020 that he was to step back from his role in the royal family and spend most of his time abroad that was usual. It was a category of its own.” The Mirror reports that the Prince is granted taxpayer-funded police security on a ‘case-by-case’ basis. This means that when he returns to his home country, he’ll only receive it if the Royal and VIP Executive Committee (RAVEC) finds it necessary.
The Duke himself has expressed his fear of coming to the UK given his susceptibilty to unwarranted attacks. In a 2023 statement to the High Court, he expressed his desire for his kids to 'feel at home' in the UK, but they cannot if 'it's not possible to keep them safe.' In a dramatic turn of events, the Prince was escorted out of the courtroom by bodyguards after the second day of his court hearing.
In a surprising act of solidarity, the late Queen Elizabeth was also in favor of her grandson's battle for protection. As reported by The Mirror, one of the Queen’s letters was handed down in a judgment for a libel case that Harry brought against a major news publisher. It partly read, “Given the Duke's public profile by virtue of being born into the royal family, his military service, the Duchess's own independent profile, and the well-documented history of targeting of the Sussex family by extremists, it is imperative that the family continues to be provided with effective security.” At the end of the aforementioned court hearing, the judge said the Court of Appeal’s decision would be given in writing, which was ‘most unlikely’ to be before Easter.
