Prince Harry feels he has been ‘singled out’ for ‘unjustified, inferior treatment’ since quitting royal duties, the Court of Appeal heard.
The Duke of Sussex yesterday strode into the London courtroom where he is fighting the Government over changes made to his security.
Harry, 40, has flown 5,000 miles to support his two-day appeal against a ruling over the right he, wife Meghan and children Archie and Lilibet have to taxpayer-funded bodyguards while visiting the UK.
In what was dubbed Megxit, Harry and his wife ‘felt forced to step back’ from royal duties in 2020 ‘as they considered they were not being protected by the institution’, his KC Shaheed Fatima said. Harry was then stripped of the automatic right to the full service of armed guards and motorbike outriders when the couple relocated to America.
The California-based prince is challenging the dismissal of his High Court legal action against the Home Office over the decision of the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (RAVEC) that he should receive a different degree of protection when in the country of his birth because he stepped down as a full-time royal.
Prince Harry’s appearance yesterday, pictured below, did not involve him giving evidence, nor will he be doing so.
In court, Sir James Eadie KC argued the removal of security was entirely justifiable, pointing out full protection is still provided when the estranged royal returns home, as necessary.
The Duke of Sussex is at the Royal Courts of Justice for the start of his appeal against a High Court ruling on his legal claim against the Home Office
The Duke of Sussex (pictured today) has been ‘singled out for different, unjustified and inferior treatment’, the Court of Appeal has heard in the royal’s challenge over his level of security in the UK
Shaheed Fatima KC, watched by her client the Duke of Sussex, during the hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice over his security
But Ms Fatima said the decision was wrong and RAVEC did not follow its own procedures.
She said: ‘When RAVEC made its February 2020 decision, it did not apply its own terms of reference to that decision-making process’, adding the committee came up with a ‘different and so-called bespoke process’.
‘The appellant [Prince Harry] does not accept that ‘bespoke’ means ‘better’. In fact, in his submission, it means that he has been singled out for different, unjustified and inferior treatment,’ the duke’s barrister said.
The duke has claimed his wife and their children cannot ‘feel at home’ or ‘safe’ in the UK unless police protection is fully restored.
Speaking for the Home Secretary and opposing Harry’s appeal, Sir James pointed out RAVEC was entitled to make a decision in its own way, and had considered the risks – with the Prince’s legal case resting upon ‘an inappropriate, formalist’ reading of its rules, and he and his team’s ‘failure to see the wood for the trees’.
Sir James said: ‘The Home Secretary recognises that the duke disagrees vehemently with the decision. He is entitled to hold and express those views. But they are legally irrelevant.’
The Home Secretary is calling for the duke to pay all costs for both sides if he loses – a bill approaching £1.5million. The duke has not visited his father, King Charles, since he landed on what is thought to have been Sunday, with the monarch jetting off for a state visit to Italy the following day.
Observers noted, too, that on the same day as the appeal case began, the Duchess of Sussex, 43, launched a new headline-grabbing podcast. The hearing continues today.