Prince Harry’s legal battle against the Home Office over his police protection while in the UK ended in defeat at the Court of Appeal last month – and figures have revealed how much the case cost the UK taxpayer
Prince Harry(Image: Max Mumby/Indigo, Getty Images)
The cost to the taxpayer of Prince Harry’s legal case over his police protection in the UK has been revealed in new figures. Last month, the Duke of Sussex lost his appeal against the dismissal of his High Court claim 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 UK.
The legal challenge came after Harry and Meghan left the UK and first moved to Canada, and then California, after announcing they wanted to step back as senior royals. After the Court of Appeal judgement, Harry later gave a bombshell interview to the BBC and claimed “I wish someone had told me beforehand there was no way to win”.
Prince Harry at the High Court in April (Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)
And now it has been reported that the case has cost the UK taxpayer £100,000 after Harry took the battle to court. According to the Daily Mail, the Home Office had already spent £554,000 in legal costs for the case and now the appeal has cost it further £102,000.
However, it is likely that as the losing party in the case, Harry will have to reimburse most of the costs, which means the case overall will cost him as much as £1.5million.
At a two-day hearing in April, barristers for the duke told the Court of Appeal that he was “singled out” for “inferior treatment” and that his safety, security and life were “at stake”.
However, in a ruling handed down, Sir Geoffrey Vos, Lord Justice Bean and Lord Justice Edis dismissed Harry’s appeal. Sir Geoffrey said that arguments put forward by Harry’s barrister, Shaheed Fatima KC, were “powerful and moving” and that it was “plain that the Duke of Sussex felt badly treated by the system”.
Harry in an interview with the BBC after losing his appeal (Image: BBC)
In an interview afterwards, he claimed the King would not speak to him because of his legal fight over his UK security, but that he does want a ‘reconciliation’ with his family.
When asked if Charles had been approached to use his influence in Harry’s legal problems, the duke appeared to imply the King was a hindrance, a comment likely to deepen the rift between his father and his brother, the Prince of Wales. He said: “I’ve never asked him to intervene, I’ve asked him to step out of the way and let the experts do their job.”
The health of the King, who is being treated for cancer, was highlighted by his son, who said: “And I said, life is precious. I don’t know how much longer my father has, he, he won’t speak to me because of this security stuff, but it would be nice to reconcile.”
He added: “I thought, with all the disagreements and all of the chaos that’s happening, the one thing that I could rely on is my family keeping me safe. And not only did they decide to remove my security in the UK, but they also signalled to every single government around the world not to protect us.”
He also told the BBC: “Everybody knew that they were putting us at risk in 2020 and they hoped that me knowing that risk would force us to come back.”
The duke said the protection given to members of the monarchy was a form of ‘control’, saying: “I think what really worries me more than anything else about today’s decision, depending on what happens next, it set a new precedent that security can be used to control members of the family. And effectively what it does is imprison other members of the family from being able to choose a different life.”
