Prince Harry loses bid to pay for UK police protection

Prince Harry lost a legal challenge to his petition to pay police protection in Britain on Tuesday, days after he and his wife, Meghan, were caught in a highly publicized confrontation with photographers in New York City.

In the case, the High Court in London rejected Harry’s request for judicial review of a Home Office decision to reject his application to pay privately for Metropolitan Police protection when he and his family visit Britain. Defense Ministry lawyers argued that it was in fact inappropriate for police officers to be hired as private security guards.

Lawyers for Harry, also known as the Duke of Sussex, had argued that he and his family needed that level of protection when visiting from the United States, where he now lives, and that the Prince was willing to pay it out of his own pocket. pay. bag.

Harry lost his automatic police protection when he and Meghan retired from their duties as working members of the royal family in 2020.

The decision is a setback for Harry at a time when his safety comes under heightened scrutiny. Last week, he and Meghan, along with Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, were swarmed by photographers after leaving an awards show in Midtown Manhattan. What happened next is the subject of widely conflicting accounts.

A spokeswoman for the couple described a “near catastrophic car chase at the hands of a group of very aggressive paparazzi.” But a taxi driver who briefly transported the three said there had been no pursuit and his passengers had no reason to be afraid, even though he admitted they seemed alarmed.

A spokesman for the New York Police Department said the photographers presented a challenge, but added that the three arrived at their Upper East Side destination without “reporting any hit-and-run, subpoena, injury or arrest.”

Traveling in Britain poses a particular security challenge for Harry and Meghan as their private guards are banned from carrying guns.

As a working royal, the prince said he never traveled without three armed bodyguards. While negotiating with palace officials over his new status, Harry wrote in his memoir, “Spare”, he begged to leave the bodyguards in place even if he lost all other royal benefits.

“I offered to pay the cost of security out of my own pocket,” he wrote. “I wasn’t sure how I would do that, but I would find a way.”