Prince Harry’s ‘life is at stake’ over security arrangements, says lawyer

LONDON: Prince Harry´s “life is at stake”, his lawyer warned as the royal´s bid to restore his UK police protection came to a close on Wednesday in a high-profile London court case.

The 40-year-old prince has been fighting to get his security in Britain brought back to the same high level it was before he and his wife Meghan split from the royal family in 2020 and dramatically moved to live in self-imposed exile in the United States. Harry is no longer considered a working royal and the government decided several years ago he would not receive the “same degree” of publicly funded protection as before.

But with Harry sitting behind her on the second and final day of the challenge in the Court of Appeal, the prince´s lawyer Shaheed Fatima said the judges “must not forget the human dimension to this case”. “There is a person sitting behind me whose safety, whose security and whose life is at stake,” she said in her concluding statement. “There is a person sitting behind me who has been told that he is getting a special, bespoke process when he knows, and has experienced, the process has been manifestly inferior in every respect.”

Harry made a rare visit to the UK for the case and his lawyer said the prince´s presence “is a potent illustration... of how much this appeal means to him and his family”.

Earlier, lawyers for the UK government defended the interior ministry´s decision to cut back Harry´s police protection in the UK after he stepped back from royal life.

Lawyer James Eadie, representing the interior ministry, defended the “bespoke” approach adopted in Harry´s case by a committee that deals with the protection of royals and public figures.