30 minutes ago
About sharing
Prince Harry is making a High Court challenge against the Home Office over his security protection when visiting the UK.
He wants to overturn a ruling that saw his security status downgraded after he stopped being a “working royal”.
Prince Harry’s lawyers, at the start of a three-day hearing in London, argued there has been unfairness in how the decision was made.
The Home Office has said his security can be decided on a case-by-case basis.
Much of the legal proceedings, about security arrangements for senior figures, will be held in private.
Cameras had gathered around the court entrance on Tuesday morning, but Prince Harry did not attend in person.
The court hearing goes back to changes that followed when Prince Harry stepped down from official royal duties and settled in the US state of California.
The committee that arranges security for members of the Royal Family and other VIPs – known as Ravec – decided in 2020 that Prince Harry would no longer have the automatic level of security for senior royals.
Instead the level of security would be arranged depending on the perceived risk, as it is with other high-profile visiting dignitaries.
But Prince Harry’s lawyers on Tuesday argued there had been a lack of transparency about the decision and the prince had been not been treated the same way as others.
There is “no good reason for singling out the claimant [Prince Harry] this way,” said his legal team.
They have argued that the safety threats to Prince Harry are “because of a factor over which he has no control and which will affect him for the rest of his life, his place in the Royal Family”.
But the Home Office’s case argued that as the prince was no longer a working royal and lived overseas, “his position has materially changed”.
“In those circumstances protective security would not be provided on the same basis as before,” say lawyers for the Home Office.
Prince Harry would receive security, the court was told, but on a “bespoke” basis “specifically tailored to him” and reflecting the nature of any possible risk.
An earlier hearing was told of claims from Prince Harry of “procedural unfairness” in how senior members of the Royal Household were part of the Ravec committee, along with police, counter-terrorism specialists and civil servants.
Among the royal aides on the committee was Sir Edward Young, private secretary to the late Queen Elizabeth.
Prince Harry’s lawyers argue there were tensions between Sir Edward and the prince and as such the royal official should not have been part of the decision making.
The lower level of security has made it difficult to bring his family to the UK, the prince has argued.
But lawyers for the Home Office have repeatedly rejected challenges to the Ravec ruling, saying there was nothing in the claims that was likely to lead to a different outcome.
A ruling from the judge is expected to be reserved to a later date.
Earlier this year Prince Harry lost a legal bid to be allowed to make private payments for police protection when he was visiting the UK, in a case that also focused on concerns about reduced security since ceasing to be a full-time working royal.