Prince Harry: I’m exhausted by court fight over security (2025)

The Duke of Sussex is “exhausted” by his legal battle to reinstate his police protection.

Prince Harry, 40, reportedly believes that his UK security was removed to “force” him “back into Britain and Establishment life.”

He was prompted to sue the Home Office but has now said that he has been “overwhelmed” by legal action that has lasted more than three years.

After attending a two-day hearing at the Court of Appeal in London this week he told the Daily Telegraph that the decision to remove his police protection was “difficult to swallow”.

Harry flew from his home in California for the hearing even though he was not required to give evidence.

The appeal has been described as the “last throw of the dice” to overturn a decision. His case against the Home Office was “comprehensively lost” in February last year when Mr Justice Lane ruled that a Home Office decision to withdraw his security had not been irrationally or procedurally unfair.

The duke said that of all his legal cases, including his litigation against the tabloid press, “this one always mattered the most”.

Harry reportedly views the removal of his and Meghan’s security as “a means of trying to force them back into Britain and Establishment life, by making visits to the UK as outsiders more difficult and potentially unsafe.”

Harry believes that the King could have intervened to reinstate his security because his private secretary Sir Clive Alderton sits on the royal and VIP executive committee. However, the palace hit back by denying that it had any decision-making power.

It is understood that while Alderton is on the committee as the King’s representative, he was not on it when the decision over Harry’s security was made five years ago when he and Megan left their royal duties.

A palace source said: “These are matters of security and government policy and, as usual, it would be inappropriate to comment or intervene on either.”

Harry is not thought to have spoken to his father or his brother, William, for several months. The duke last saw the King in February last year after his cancer diagnosis but the pair did not meet when Harry returned that May.

Much of the original hearing about his security and last week’s appeal were heard in private because of the “highly confidential” evidence.

“People would be shocked by what’s being held back,” he said, adding that his “worst fears have been confirmed by the whole legal disclosure in this case and that’s really sad”.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex left their royal roles five years ago to move to America, and Harry has since been subject to a “bespoke” package of security.

It means that every time he visits the UK he must give 30 days’ notice and each trip is assessed on merit before police protection is granted.

He has argued that the current offer is not adequate and he believes that it is not safe to bring his children to Britain.

When he came to London last May, he is understood to have rejected an offer by his father to stay at Buckingham Palace as he did not think the accommodation to be safe enough.

This week Shaheed Fatima KC, his barrister, told the Court of Appeal that his life was at stake if his security was not reinstated.

However, within hours of his appearance at court, the duke flew to Ukraine and visited a rehabilitation centre. Details, pictures and a video of the prince’s visit to Lviv were released after he had left the country.

It is understood that Harry flew to Poland before crossing the border into Ukraine with a local police escort.

A result on his appeal will be handed down by a panel of three judges after Easter.