The Duke of Sussex’s security arrangements while visiting the UK are reportedly to be reviewed after a direct request from him to the home secretary.
Prince Harry, who lost a high-profile legal claim against the government over the decision to remove his right to automatic taxpayer-funded police protection, wrote privately to the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, requesting a full security risk assessment.
Harry is understood to have been told that the royal and VIP executive committee (Ravec), which is responsible for deciding on protection measures, will ask its risk management board (RMB) to reassess his threat level for the first time since 2020.
Harry has previously said he believes it is not safe for his wife, Meghan, and their two children, Prince Archie, six, and Princess Lilibet, four, to come to the UK. King Charles last saw his grandchildren in June 2022 during Queen Elizabeth II’s platinum jubilee celebrations.
Harry launched a legal challenge against the decision to provide “bespoke” protection measures on a case-by-case basis while he is in the UK after losing his automatic police protection on stepping down as a working royal and moving to the US. He argued the decision had been made without a proper risk management assessment.
In May he lost a court of appeal challenge, and in an emotional interview immediately afterwards he blamed a “good old-fashioned establishment stitch-up”.
His legal team had argued that the Home Office had singled him out for “inferior treatment”. But three judges at the court of appeal rejected this argument. “I could not say that the duke’s sense of grievance translated into a legal argument for the challenge to Ravec’s decision,” the judge Geoffrey Vos said in his ruling.
The Sun has reported that after Harry’s request to Mahmood, the RMB will collate evidence from the police, government and the prince’s team, with its findings expected to be presented to Ravec next month.
The prince has long argued a new risk analysis was imperative to ensure any security decisions made by Ravec were based on the current threat. Since stepping down from royal duties to move abroad, he has been required to give 30 days’ notice of any UK visit so each trip can be assessed on its merits.
Several people have been jailed for encouraging attacks on him, threatening or plotting to kill him, according to the Telegraph, which said it was understood there were three Britons at large who had been jailed and released after plotting to cause him harm.
A spokesperson for Harry said they would not comment on security matters.
A government spokesperson said: “The UK government’s protective security system is rigorous and proportionate. It is our longstanding policy not to provide detailed information on those arrangements, as doing so could compromise their integrity and affect individuals’ security.”
