At the end of February, Prince Harry “lost” his High Court case, all about police protection during his visits to the UK. Harry went on a years-long fact-finding mission to learn how and why his family’s security was abruptly yanked in early 2020, and he managed to put a lot of shady sh-t on the record about how Ravec operates and who actually determines royal protection. Basically, courtiers from Buckingham Palace and Clarence House actively pursued a strategy which left Harry, Meghan and Archie in grave danger, and the courtiers did so because A) they didn’t care if the Sussexes were in mortal danger and B) they were attempting to “force” Harry to come back to the UK. In any case, Harry’s legal actions on security have faced a lot of roadblocks and clearly, no judge or lawyer seems particularly invested in investigating why Ravec seems to operate on vibes, revenge, spite and pettiness. Now Harry has lost his “bid to appeal his case.”
Prince Harry has lost a “frankly hopeless” bid to appeal his case against the Home Office after a High Court judge noted that he had “comprehensively lost”. The Duke of Sussex sought a judicial review over the decision to remove his right to automatic police protection when he moved abroad. His claim was dismissed in February after two and a half years of legal wrangling. Mr Justice Lane insisted that the decision made by the Royal and VIP Executive Committee (Ravec) had not been irrational or procedurally unfair.
Court documents released on Monday revealed that Prince Harry’s application to appeal the ruling was also roundly rejected by the judge, as was his request to pay just 40 per cent of the Government’s costs, which exceeded £500,000. The judge ordered him instead to pay 90 per cent, stating that his submissions relied upon “a great deal of unsupported speculation”.
On the application to appeal, Mr Justice Lane criticised the Duke’s legal team for “displaying precisely the same kind of errors” he had identified in his original ruling, specifically, by taking an “inappropriate” and “formalistic” approach to the process. The judge said the application was “largely a recapitulation of the case advanced by the claimant at trial”.
He continued: “The reality of the matter is that the claimant considers he should receive a different approach to his protection while in the UK than Ravec decided he should, based in part on his comparison of his own position with that of others. Ravec, as an expert body, concluded otherwise. It was entitled to do so.”
“Ravec, as an expert body, concluded otherwise. It was entitled to do so.” As I said, no one in Britain has any appetite to examine why Ravec, as an expert body on high-level protection, would leave a prince without any security apparatus, given the level of threats against him. The judge’s argument seems to be: Ravec can do whatever they want and no one can question them, not even the prince they put in mortal danger out of spite.
Now, I’m disappointed that Harry has to pay the bulk of the Home Office’s legal expenses here. I didn’t realize that was on the table. That means that Harry owes around £1 million in legal expenses just for this two-year-long fact-finding mission and bureaucratic merry-go-round. While I’m glad Harry got a lot of stuff on the record and he likely got some answers to many of his questions, I kind of wish he would just make his peace with the fact that the institution and everyone within the institution wants grave harm to befall him. Perhaps it’s time to cut his losses with the entire nation, you know?
One more interesting sidenote about this case – apparently, Harry had to offer a formal apology to the court for breaking confidentiality rules. He shared close-hold security information with… Johnny Mercer, the Minister of State for Veterans’ Affairs. The same Johnny Mercer who served in Afghanistan, attended the Invictus Games in Germany, praised Harry in interviews and is currently spearheading the effort to bring the 2027 Invictus Games to Birmingham. Apparently, Harry emailed some sensitive information to Mercer or something like that. Harry apologized. I’m dying to know what it was about – perhaps something like “if the government won’t assure my family’s security, I’m never stepping foot in the UK again?”
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.