Celebrity
Prince Harry Is Fighting For UK Police Protection On Trips Home With His Family
“Prince Harry inherited a security risk at birth, for life,” his legal spokesperson says.
Though the Duke and Duchess of Sussex seem to have made a happy home in Southern California, they would still like to visit the United Kingdom as a family — but not without adequate police protection in place. Prince Harry’s request to personally pay for those safeguards was denied by the U.K. High Court, according to a Jan. 16 BBC report. Now, after applying for a judicial review last September to challenge that decision, his legal representative is speaking out about why, exactly, police support is so necessary.
“The [United Kingdom] will always be Prince Harry’s home and a country he wants his wife and children to be safe in,” Harry’s rep said in a statement. “With the lack of police protection, comes too great a personal risk.”
The statement went on to clarify specific concerns for the royal. “Prince Harry inherited a security risk at birth, for life,” it reads. “He remains sixth in line to the throne, served two tours of combat duty in Afghanistan, and in recent years his family has been subjected to well-documented neo-Nazi and extremist threats.” Harry’s car was even pursued by photographers last summer in London — another factor in the fight for police protection, as the BBC noted.
Harry’s fight to be able to pay for greater security in the UK has been going on since January 2020, when he and wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, announced their decision to “step back” as senior royals. He later made “another attempt at negotiations” that turned out to be unsuccessful, leading him to seek a judicial review in September 2021, according to the statement. “The goal for Prince Harry has been simple — to ensure the safety of himself and his family while in the UK so his children can know is home country,” it adds.
This isn’t the first time Harry and Meghan have faced security concerns. Upon moving to the United States in 2020, the couple’s taxpayer-funded royal detail was revoked — and as viewers learned in that groundbreaking Oprah Winfrey interview, they actually stayed at the home of Hollywood icon Tyler Perry, who provided them with shelter and security as they sorted things out.
Today, Harry and Meghan do have private security of their own — but the duke’s rep explained in the Jan. 16 statement, per the Daily Mail, that such “security cannot replicate the necessary police protection needed whilst in the [United Kingdom].” A government spokesperson maintained to the BBC that the United Kingdom’s “protective security system is rigorous and proportionate,” but could not comment on specifics for safety purposes.
In the meantime, it sounds like the Sussexes won’t be returning to the UK anytime soon. “With the lack of police protection comes too great a personal risk,” the statement says.
