Prince Harry given green light to appeal in UK legal challenge over personal security
Duke to challenge ruling in case about automatically receiving personal police security while in Britain
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Your support makes all the difference.The Duke of Sussex will be able to appeal against the dismissal of his High Court challenge over a decision to change the level of his personal security when he visits the UK.
Harry took legal action against the Home Office over the February 2020 decision that he should receive a different degree of taxpayer-funded protection when in the country.
In a judgment in February, retired High Court judge Sir Peter Lane rejected the duke’s case and concluded Ravec’s approach was not irrational nor procedurally unfair.
However, the Court of Appeal has now said it will hear his challenge following a direct application from Harry’s lawyers, who said Harry had been granted permission to appeal.
Harry, along with other senior royals, had received full publicly-funded security protection before he stepped back from his royal duties and moved to California with his American wife Meghan in March 2020.
The Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures, known as RAVEC, then decided Harry would no longer receive the same level of protection.
Judge Peter Lane had concluded that RAVEC was entitled to reach this conclusion and ordered that he should pay 90 per cent of the Home Office’s “reasonable costs” in defending the case, though the government’s total outlay was not stated.
After the ruling earlier this year, a legal spokesman for Harry said he intended to appeal, 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.
“In February 2020, Ravec failed to apply its written policy to the Duke of Sussex and excluded him from a particular risk analysis.
“The duke’s case is that the so-called ‘bespoke process’ that applies to him is no substitute for that risk analysis.
“The Duke of Sussex hopes he will obtain justice from the Court of Appeal, and makes no further comment while the case is ongoing.”
In granting permission for an appeal, Judge David Bean said he was persuaded, “not without hesitation”, that Harry’s challenge on the grounds that RAVEC had not followed its own stated policy had a real prospect of success.
Ravec has delegated responsibility from the Home Office over the provision of protective security arrangements for members of the royal family and others, with involvement from the Metropolitan Police, the Cabinet Office and the royal household.
The case against the government is one of several high-profile legal battles Harry has brought in the High Court, with his others involving lawsuits against major players in the British press.