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by Mick the Ram
A legal challenge brought by the Duke of Sussex in an attempt to overturn a previous ruling with regards to his personal security when in the UK, has been dismissed.
Prince Harry had his status downgraded after he stepped away from his duties as a working royal, being told he would no longer be given the same degree of publicly-funded protection when in the country.
The Home Office said his security on UK visits should be decided on a case-by-case basis, but Harry took the matter to court complaining that he had been “singled out” and the lower level of security made it difficult and unsafe for his family.
However, it was was ruled in the High Court that the decision was neither unlawful nor irrational.
The Prince’s legal team have already confirmed that he will be seeking to appeal the judgement.
Good result for the Home Office
Making their argument against the challenge, Home Office lawyers explained to the court that Prince Harry would receive “bespoke arrangements, specifically tailored to him”, rather than the automatic security provided for the full-time working royals.
Following the ruling, a spokesperson said the Home Office was pleased that the court has found in favour of the government’s position, pointing out that their protective security system is “rigorous and proportionate”.
They said it was a long-standing policy not to provide detailed information on individual arrangements, as by doing so it could “compromise their integrity and affect security.”
Justified in policy shift
The ruling was issued by retired High Court judge Sir Peter Lane in a 51-page partially revised document. A crucial part was a finding that any departure from policy was justified.
Sir Peter said Harry’s lawyers had taken “an inappropriate interpretation” of how he qualified for security under the Royal and VIP Executive Committee (Ravec), which arranges security measures for members of the Royal Family and other VIPs.
Risk analysis not observed
The Duke’s lawyers had insisted that he had not been asking for preferential treatment, but for a fair and lawful application of Ravec’s own rules, so as to ensure that he receives the same consideration as others, in accordance with Ravec’s own written policy.
They argued that this had not been applied and had excluded the Prince from an important risk analysis. They made the point that the “so-called bespoke process” that would apply to him, is “no substitute for that risk analysis.”
Appeal coming
A spokesperson said after the decision that “the Duke of Sussex hopes he will obtain justice from the Court of Appeal, and makes no further comment while the case is ongoing.”
Court revolving door for the prince
Harry seems to have been in and out of the courts on almost a weekly basis this year. He was very vocal after emerging victorious from a battle against newspaper publisher the Mirror Group Newspapers over past instances of phone hacking and remains locked in cases against the publishers two other tabloids.
He wasn’t so successful last month when he abandoned a libel claim against another newspaper, over some of the reporting of the same case he has now lost regarding his security issue.
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