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Prince Harry loses inital bid to appeal against personal security ruling

15 April 2024, 14:57 | Updated: 15 April 2024, 18:02

Prince Harry has lost an initial bid to appeal against a High Court ruling over his personal security in the UK.

In February, the Duke of Sussex lost his legal challenge against the Home Office's decision to change the level of his personal security when he visits the UK.

His lawyers had argued that he was "singled out" and treated "less favourably" in the decision, which meant he would no longer be given the "same degree" of taxpayer-funded personal protective security when visiting.

However, the High Court ruled the decision to change his security status was not unlawful or "irrational", and that there had been no "procedural unfairness".

On Monday, a judicial spokesperson said Harry has lost his initial bid to appeal against the decision.

Harry, along with other senior royals, had received full publicly-funded security protection provided by the state before he and his wife, Meghan, decided to step back from royal duties to pursue a life in California, where they moved in June 2020.

But the government's legal team said the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures, known as Ravec, had decided Harry should receive a different degree of protection.

The decision came as a result of a change in the duke's "status" after he stopped being a "full-time working member of the royal family", a judge was told.

The duke's lawyers told a hearing in December that the decision to take this away subjected him to unlawful, unfair and unjustifiable treatment.

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However, the High Court agreed with Ravec, concluding that there had been no unlawfulness in the decision and dismissed Harry's legal challenge.

Following the High Court's refusal to grant Harry permission to appeal against the dismissal, he can still apply directly to the Court of Appeal, a court spokesperson said.

In an interview last year Harry, who was not present at the December hearing, revealed he felt "stunned" when his security was taken away.

He is believed to have last visited the UK in February when he made a whirlwind trip to see his father the King following his cancer diagnosis.