Prince Harry loses his legal challenge over the provision of his security in the United Kingdom

British justice ruled against Prince Harry, youngest son of King Charles III, on Wednesday January 28, who contested the end of the systematic management by the police of his security when he is in the United Kingdom. The High Court in London found that the police’s decision to withdraw this systematic protection “was not irrational” or “tainted by injustice”.

The Duke of Sussex and his wife, Meghan, lost this systematic protection from law enforcement – ??at the expense of the British taxpayer – after deciding to step back from the royal family in 2020 and move to the United States. United.

Prince Harry’s appeal against the British Home Office thus concerned the decision, taken by the authorities in February 2020, to grant him police protection on a case-by-case basis. During a hearing in early December, the Duke of Sussex’s lawyer argued that a case-by-case decision “results in excessive uncertainty” for the prince and those responsible for his security.

Confidential security information

But, in his decision, the judge found that this case-by-case strategy “was, and is, legally justified”. During the debates, a large part of which were held behind closed doors due to the confidential nature of the security information mentioned, the lawyer for the Ministry of the Interior considered that it was justified by the “change of status” of the Duke of Sussex within the royal family, after his departure to the United States.

In another procedure, Prince Harry, who currently sometimes has to resort to private protection at his own expense, had requested to be able to benefit from police protection but paying with his personal funds. This request was rejected by the courts last May.

The king’s youngest son rarely visits the United Kingdom, making only brief visits over the past year, for the coronation of Charles III in May, or to visit his father suffering from cancer in early February. .

The question of his safety is very sensitive for Prince Harry, who blames the press and the paparazzi for the car accident that killed his mother, Princess Diana, in Paris in 1997. The son of Charles III d ‘elsewhere initiated numerous lawsuits against the tabloids.

Last December, the courts convicted the publisher of the tabloid The Mirror for having obtained information by hacking the messaging system of the prince or his entourage, or by other illicit processes. In January, however, Prince Harry abandoned defamation proceedings against the publishing company of the Mail on Sunday, which he had attacked concerning a 2022 article relating to his police protection when he visits the United Kingdom.