Global Courant 2023-05-23 16:19:05
Prince Harry lost an attempt on Tuesday to legally challenge the UK government’s decision not to allow him to pay for police protection while in the UK.
The High Court in London, which already ruled last year that Harry should be able to challenge the original decision to end his protection, ruled on Tuesday that he could not seek further judicial review over the refusal of his offer to pay privately for the highly trained officers.
The decision to lift government-funded security was made by the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures, known by the acronym RAVEC, which approves security for royalty and VIPs such as the Prime Minister.
Last week, Harry’s lawyers had argued that RAVEC had no power to reject his funding offer, and even if it had that power, it was wrong not to consider an exception or hear on his behalf.
However, police and government lawyers said it would be wrong to make the fifth in line to the throne pay for protection, as it would mean wealthy individuals could “buy” specially trained officers as private bodyguards.
Lost royal patronage in 2020
They argued that it would be wrong for an individual to pay for such officers, who must put themselves in danger, if the commission had already considered that it was not in the best interest of the public or the state.
It was very different from paying for police work for a football game, a marathon, or even a celebrity wedding, they said.
King Charles’ youngest son, Harry, was stripped of the police protection typically provided to royal figures in the United Kingdom after he and his American wife, Meghan Markle, have stepped down from their official position in 2020 to move to the United States.
In his written ruling, Judge Martin Chamberlain dismissed Harry’s case, concluding that RAVEC had not been wrong to rule that allowing payment for protective security was against the public interest.
His statement comes less than a week after Harry’s spokesman said the prince, his wife and her mother were involved in a “near catastrophic” chase with press photographers following an awards ceremony in New York.
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The prince has spoken out about his fears for his family’s safety and has regularly lashed out at press intruders, blaming them for the death of his mother, Princess Diana, who was killed when her limousine crashed when this one drove away from chasing paparazzi in Paris in 1997.
Meanwhile, Britain’s former police chief said last year that credible threats had been made against the pair by far-right extremists.
The case is one of many Harry is currently pursuing at the Supreme Court. His lawyers are also involved in a lawsuit in which he and others are suing Mirror Group Newspapers over allegations of phone hacking and other illegal activities.
Harry is also suing the publisher of the Mail on Sunday newspaper for libel over an article alleging he only offered to pay for police protection after the start of his lawsuit against the British government.
