Prince Harry Gets Bittersweet News About His Legal Case

On July 22, 2022, a judge in the British High Court granted Prince Harry permission to challenge the Home Office and the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec) regarding their decisions about his security arrangements in the UK.

Earlier this month, the Duke of Sussex asked the High Court to review the Home Office and Ravec's decision to strip the royal of police protection after he and Meghan Markle stepped down from their roles as senior royals in February 2020 (via Evening Standard). Once the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had moved from the UK to Canada — and eventually, the United States — the Home Office and Ravec denied the possibility for them to pay for their own police protection while visiting the UK.

Of the five grounds put forward by Prince Harry, the judge granted four to be heard in the British High Court. These include Ravec not having had "the opportunity to explain the reasons for its decision" (via judiciary.uk), that Harry "was not told the contents" of Ravec's policy about security, and that he should have been able to speak directly to Ravec about the decision.

In January 2022, Prince Harry announced that he was to take legal action against the Home Office and the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec) for not allowing him to pay for security whenever he and his family visited the UK, per The Independent. A representative for the Duke of Sussex said they were "unable to return" to Britain without police protection due to the fear of his family being attacked.

"The UK will always be Prince Harry's home and a country he wants his wife and children to be safe in," his representative said. "With the lack of police protection comes too great a personal risk." They added that while they "personally fund a private security team for their family," that team "cannot replicate the necessary police protection needed while in the UK."

Now that a judicial review into the Home Office and Ravec's response to Prince Harry's request has been granted, the British High Court will review "the lawfulness of [the] decision," per BBC News.

During the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021 (via The Independent), Prince Harry expressed his feelings regarding the decision that he "never thought" would happen. "Their justification was a change in status. I pushed back and said is there a change of threat or risk?" he said, going on to explain that he "was born into this position" and that he inevitably "inherited the risk." He was reportedly told that while the risk hadn't changed, their status as royals had.

Despite not being involved in the legal proceedings, Meghan Markle reached out to the royal family to expressly guarantee Harry's safety when he was in the UK. She said, "it's very clear the protection of me or Archie is not a priority, I accept that, that is fine — please keep my husband safe." Markle raised the issues of "death threats" and "racist propaganda" as potential risks, adding that they "please keep him safe" and to not "pull his security and announce to the world when he and we are most vulnerable," to which the royal family allegedly replied was "just not possible."