Prince Harry: Parts of Duke’s court battle with Home Office over police protection will be kept secret
Parts of documents in a case brought by the Duke of Sussex against the Home Office over his police protection in the UK will remain secret, a High Court judge has ruled.
Prince Harry files complaint against Home Office after being told he will no longer have ‘same degree’ of personal protection when visiting from the US, despite offering to pay for it -same.
The Duke wants to bring his children to the UK but “does not feel safe” visiting under current security arrangements, the High Court has already been told.
He challenges the February 2020 decision of the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec), which delegated the powers of the Minister of the Interior.
Preliminary court proceedings last month, largely held in private, covered a request by the Duke and the Home Office to keep parts of the court documents in the case private.
The court was told the Duke and the Home Office agreed on the ‘vast majority’ of what should be redacted from testimony and the document outlining the Duke’s case.
In a judgment on Thursday, Judge Swift said the attempted deletion of documents was permitted.
Harry argues that his private protection team in the United States does not have adequate overseas jurisdiction or access to British intelligence information needed to protect him, his wife Meghan Markle and their two children.
(Getty Pictures)
In his ruling, Judge Swift said removing the information from court documents “would avoid the risk of information being made public regarding security arrangements made on past occasions, and the general approach to whether and, if so, where appropriate, what provisions must be made, may undermine the effectiveness of the provisions currently in place or which could be put in place in the future”.
He added: ‘Information on these matters would obviously be of interest to anyone wishing to harm a person under the security arrangements and would help them to reconstruct past practice with a view to anticipating present or future security arrangements.’
The Duke’s lawyer, Shaheed Fatima QC, previously told the court that Harry considers the UK “is and always will be his home”.
A legal representative for Harry had previously said he wanted to fund the security himself, rather than asking taxpayers to foot the bill.
Harry argues that his private protection team in the United States does not have adequate overseas jurisdiction or access to British intelligence information needed to keep his family safe.
The Duke and his wife Meghan live in the United States with their children Archie and Lilibet after leaving the royal family in early 2020.
Harry briefly returned from Los Angeles last year for the July 1 unveiling of the Diana, Princess of Wales memorial statue, and the day before he met seriously ill children and young people at a garden party and afternoon tea at Kew Gardens in West London.
It is understood his car was chased by photographers as he drove away.
Additional reporting by Press Association