Lawyers of Prince Harry are asking for a judicial review against the refusal of the UK’s Home Office to pay for his police protection whenever he is in the United Kingdom.
Prince Harry is the grandchild of Queen Elizabeth of England whose security was withdrawn when she stepped back from the royal life in 2020 and relocated to Los Angeles with his wife Meghan and son Archie.
The US-based Prince and Duke of Sussex now says that his security team does not have adequate jurisdiction abroad and his status in life as a prince means that he will always face a security risk for life and may be a target of crimes.
Prince Harry’s lawyers argued that he wants to visit the United Kingdom with his family but he first wants to ensure their security is guaranteed.
This is the reason why they asked for a judicial review -which is basically to challenge a decision made by the High Court when a security incident happened in London back in July 2021 when the car carrying Prince Harry was chased down the street by paparazzi’s as he left a charity event.
According to Prince Harry’s legal representative, the claim was filed in court in Sep 2021 “to challenge the decision-making behind the security procedures, in the hopes that this could be re-evaluated for the obvious and necessary protection required.”
Prince Harry argues that his private security team cannot do the work of police protection in the United Kingdom. This is because the lack legal jurisdiction and access to local intelligence in the UK or whatever access they have cannot be matched with what they can do in the United States of America or Canada.
A statement said: “Prince Harry inherited a security risk at birth, for life.
“He remains sixth in line to the throne, served two tours of combat duty in Afghanistan, and in recent years his family has been subjected to well-documented neo-Nazi and extremist threats.”
In Jan 2020, Prince Harry offered to cater for the costs of police protection at Sandringham when he was having talks with Queen Elizabeth about his future roles.
“The UK will always be Prince Harry’s home and a country he wants his wife and children to be safe in. With the lack of police protection, comes too great a personal risk,” the statement read in part.
Prince Harry and his Wife Meghan revealed that they have private security arrangements in the USA after President Donald Trump said that his country would not pay for their police protection.
“It is our long-standing policy not to provide detailed information on those arrangements. To do so could compromise their integrity and affect individuals’ security,” said a government spokesman in response to the demands.
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