Prince Harry loses legal bid to pay for his own police protection in the UK

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle lost their taxpayer-funded police protection when they stepped back as senior royals in 2020.

• Prince Harry lost a legal bid to pay for police protection in the UK.
• Harry was stripped of his government protection when he stepped back as a senior royal.
• Harry's lawyer previously said he feels unsafe bringing his family to the UK.

Prince Harry lost a legal challenge in the United Kingdom on Tuesday.

A judge in London's High Court denied Harry's request for a judicial review of a government decision that barred him from personally paying for police protection when he and his family are in the UK.

The executive committee for the protection of royalty and public figures — also known by the acronym Ravec — determined that Harry and Meghan Markle no longer qualified for their taxpayer-funded police protection when they stepped back as senior royals and moved to California in 2020. 

The prince sought to hire police officers with "access to UK intelligence" when he and his family are in Britain, The Washington Post reported.

But according to the court documents viewed by Insider, Ravec said that "they do not support the suggestion that a wealthy person should be able to 'buy' special police services." 

Representatives for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on Tuesday's decision.

In a statement shared with Insider in January 2022, a spokesperson for the couple said Harry first offered to personally pay for police protection for his family in January 2020 when he and Meghan stepped back as senior royals, but he was "dismissed."

"The Duke and Duchess of Sussex personally fund a private security team for their family, yet that security cannot replicate the necessary police protection needed while in the UK," the statement said at the time. "In the absence of such protection, Prince Harry and his family are unable to return to his home."

"He remains willing to cover the cost of security, as not to impose on the British taxpayer," the statement went on to say. "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 his home country."

During court proceedings in February 2022, Harry's lawyer, Shaheed Fatima, said that the prince "does not feel safe when he is in the UK given the security arrangements applied to him," the AP reported at the time.

Harry himself repeated the sentiment ahead of Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee in April 2022, saying in an interview on the "Today" show that he wasn't sure if his children could attend because of "security issues" 

Harry, Meghan, and their children, Archie and Lilibet, ended up attending the celebrations, and The Mirror's royal editor Russell Myers reported at the time that the family was given police protection for the trip.

However, Archie and Lilibet did not attend Queen Elizabeth's funeral in September 2022, nor did they come to King Charles III's coronation on May 6. Meghan stayed with the children in California while Harry attended the coronation.

The Duke of Sussex is in the midst of other legal proceedings in the UK, including lawsuits against News Group Newspapers, the publisher of The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World, and Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Daily Mail, saying both unlawfully gathered information about him.