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Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, leaves the Rolls Building at the High Court after giving evidence during the Mirror Group phone hacking trial in London, June 6, 2023.
Prince Harry has suffered a legal defeat in a ruling that could have implications for whether he and his wife, Duchess Meghan, and their two children, Archie and Lilibet, visit the United Kingdom.
A London judge ruled on Wednesday that the UK government had the right to strip Harry of automatic security equipment during his visits to Britain.
Harry, 39, plans to appeal the judge’s ruling, a spokesperson for the duke told ABC News.
“The Duke of Sussex will appeal today’s ruling rejecting his judicial review appeal against the decision-making body RAVEC, which includes the Home Office, the Royal Household and the Metropolitan Police,” the spokesperson said in a statement, adding : “The Duke is not asking for preferential treatment, but for a fair and lawful application of RAVEC’s own rules, ensuring that he receives the same consideration as others in accordance with RAVEC’s own written policy… The Duke of Sussex hopes to obtain justice of the Court of Appeal and makes no further comments while the case is ongoing.”
Harry, fifth in line to the throne, has been fighting a 2020 government decision that denied his family automatic taxpayer-funded police protection while in Britain after he and Meghan stepped down from their roles as high-ranking royals.
At the time, the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures, known as RAVEC, made the decision that security for the Sussexes would be granted on a case-by-case basis.
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Harry, who now lives in California with Meghan and their children, has said he wants police protection for his family while on British soil and is willing to pay the cost himself.
The judge’s ruling on Harry’s security case came less than two weeks after Harry made an overnight trip to the United Kingdom to see his father, King Charles III, who was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer.
Harry’s visit to Charles marked the first time he had seen his father since May, when he traveled to the United Kingdom to attend Charles’ coronation. Harry traveled alone to the coronation and to see his father earlier this month.
Meghan was last known to have joined Harry in the UK in September 2022, when they both attended the funeral of Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.
Harry and Meghan’s children, Archie, 4, and Lilibet, 2, joined their parents on a trip to the United Kingdom in June 2022 to attend the queen’s jubilee. Archie, who was born in the UK, and Lilibet, who was born in California, are not known to have visited the UK since.
In an interview earlier this month, before the court ruling, Harry told ABC News’ Will Reeve that he has upcoming trips to the United Kingdom on his agenda.
“I have other trips planned that will take me around the UK or back to the UK, so I’ll stop by and see my family as much as I can,” Harry said.
Since moving to California, the Sussexes have relied on a privately funded security team.
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The family’s current security situation is similar to that of Harry’s late mother, Princess Diana, who had to rely on private security protection after her divorce from Harry’s father, Prince Charles, in 1996.
A year later, in 1997, Diana He died in a car accident in Paris. after the paparazzi chased the car he was traveling in.
“When Diana died, she had no police protection. She had a private security team at the time,” ABC News royal contributor Victoria Murphy previously told ABC News. “And I think it’s very clear that Prince Harry feels that police protection is superior and that’s what he wants for his family.”