Prince Harry loses first appeal bid in challenge over his UK police protection

FILE PHOTO: Britain’s Prince Harry speaks during the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games, in Duesseldorf, Germany, September 9, 2023. REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen/File Photo

LONDON (Reuters) – Prince Harry has lost his first attempt to appeal against the dismissal of his legal challenge over the British government’s decision to take away his police protection when he is in Britain, a court spokesperson said on Monday.

Harry, King Charles’ younger son, had brought the action against the government at the High Court in London after the Home Office – the ministry responsible for policing – decided in February 2020 that he would cease to automatically receive personal police security while in Britain.

Harry, along with other senior royals, had received full publicly-funded security protection provided by the state before he stepped back from his royal duties and moved to California with his American wife Meghan in March 2020.

His lawyers told a hearing in December that the decision to take this away subjected him to unlawful, unfair and unjustifiable treatment.

But the government’s legal team said the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures, known as RAVEC, had not decided Harry should not receive protection, but that he should not have it on the same basis.

The High Court agreed, concluding that there had been no unlawfulness in the decision and dismissed Harry’s legal challenge.

The court refused to give Harry permission to appeal, a court spokesperson said on Monday, adding that the prince can apply directly to the Court of Appeal.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Kate Holton)