The Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry, was unaware that members of Queen Elizabeth’s household staff were part of the decision to deny Harry and his family police protection while visiting the UK.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle lost the protection of British police when they stepped back from Royal duties and moved to California in 2020.
The 37-year-old prince is now suing the British government for refusing to provide a security detail for himself, Meghan, and their two children when they visit the UK. His lawyer has now claimed that Harry was unaware that the Queen’s staff were directly involved in the decision-making process.
Harry’s lawyers say Queen’s private security influenced police protection decision
Decisions on who gets special treatment are made by the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (also known as Ravec), but Harry is reportedly annoyed that at least one official on this committee was a member of the Queen’s Royal Household.
The Queen’s private secretary, Sir Edward Young, allegedly played a key role in the committee’s decision. Still, Harry and his legal team suspect Young was “materially prejudiced” due to his connection with the Queen and Harry.
Ravec is supposed to be an independent body, but Harry’s legal team argued that there were tensions between the prince and members of the Royal Household, which should have seen them excluded from the committee.
According to TMZ, Harry’s lawyer, Shaheed Fatima, argued that “there were significant tensions between the claimant [Prince Harry] and certain people” and, as per BBC, Fatima added, [“Harry] didn’t know at that stage that the Royal Household was involved at all.”
The lawyers also claim that Harry had contacted Sir Young offering to pay for his police protection, but this info was not passed on to Ravec.
Harry and Meghan believe they need UK-based police protection
Harry and Meghan have their own California-based security detail, but the couple is concerned that they would lack vital local knowledge of the UK needed to provide proper protection. Whereas UK cops are privy to information provided by the intelligence services.
Lawyers for the British government argued that Ravec was entitled to make decisions in whatever way they felt necessary and had a right to decide on Harry’s security on a case-by-case basis. Harry and his family were recently provided police protection during their visit for the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
A decision on the court action is not expected for another few weeks.
Tensions between Harry and Meghan and other members of the Royal family and household have been high for many years. There have been allegations of bullying against Meghan Markle. And the Sussexes’ have also accused an unnamed member of the family of racism.
Recently news emerged that Kate Middleton was trying to broker peace between her husband, Prince William, and Harry. But currently, their relationship appears to remain very frosty.