The legal team of Prince
Harry has told the High Court in the first preliminary hearing against the
Home Office over his police protection in the UK saying that Prince Harry wants
to return to the UK but “does not feel safe.”
Prince Harry, 37,
has applied for a judicial review of a
Home Office decision not to allow him to personally pay for police protection
for himself and his family when they are in the UK.
He wants to bring his
children, Archie, two, and eight-month-old Lilibet, to visit from the US, but he and his family are “unable
to return to his home” because it is too dangerous, a legal
representative for the Duke previously said.
The Duke’s legal
representative QC Shaheed Fatima said at Friday’s hearing: “This
claim is about the fact that the Duke does not feel safe when he is in the UK
given the security arrangements applied to him in June 2021 and will continue
to be applied if he decides to come back. It goes without saying that he does
want to come back to see family and friends and to continue to support the
charities that are so close to his heart. This is and always will be his
home.”
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Harry last visited the UK in July 2021 for the Princess Diana statue unveiling
The Sussexes lost their taxpayer-funded police protection in
the aftermath of quitting as senior working royals in early 2020.
The Duke, who did not
attend Friday’s hearing in person, is arguing that his private protection team
in the US does not have adequate jurisdiction abroad or access to UK
intelligence information which is needed to keep his family safe.
He briefly returned from
California last year for the 1 July unveiling of the Diana, Princess of Wales
memorial statue and, the day before, on June 30, he met seriously ill children
and young people at a WellChild garden party and afternoon tea in Kew Gardens,
west London.
A legal representative for
Harry previously said the Duke wants to fund the security himself, rather than
ask taxpayers to foot the bill. However, Robert Palmer QC, for the Home Office,
told the court that Harry’s offer of private funding was
“irrelevant”.
In written submissions, he
said: “Personal protective security by the police is not available on a
privately financed basis, and Ravec [Executive Committee for the Protection of
Royalty and Public Figures] does not make decisions on the provision of such
security on the basis that any financial contribution could be sought or
obtained to pay for it.”
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Harry and Meghan now reside in the US with their children
He said Ravec had
attributed to the Duke “a form of exceptional status” where he
is considered for personal protective security by the police “with the
precise arrangements being dependent on the reason for his presence in Great
Britain and by reference to the functions he carries out when present”.
The barrister added:
“A case-by-case approach rationally and appropriately allows Ravec to
implement a responsive approach to reflect the applicable circumstances.”
The Home Office’s written
arguments also claim that Harry’s offer of funding was “notably not advanced
to Ravec” at the time of the Duke’s visit in June 2021, or in
any pre-action discussions.
Mr. Palmer later said in
the written submissions that the Duke had “failed to afford the necessary
measure of respect” to the Home Secretary and Ravec as “the
expert, and democratically accountable, decision-maker on matters of protective
security and associated risk assessment”.
He added that the Home
Office will “seek the costs incurred as a result of this claim in full,
including those of the confidentiality exercise, which has resulted in costs
being incurred to the public purse”.
Friday’s preliminary
hearing at the High Court at London is expected to cover what parts of the
court documents can be made public or must be kept private.
