Prince Harry gets miffed after being asked to give 28 days' notice before UK trip
2 min read . Updated: 19 Mar 2023, 07:23 AM IST
PremiumPrince Harry's legal team has claimed that the requirement to give 28 days' notice of a visit creates uncertainty and could threaten his safety.
Prince Harry was required to give 28 days' notice before his planned visits to the UK so that the Home Office could assess his security requests. The Duke of Sussex was then informed that the Home Office would decide whether the requested security arrangements were necessary following his decision to step back from Royal duties. Prince Harry was not happy with this decision and demanded an example of someone with the same threat assessment as him who received no security after leaving public duty, according to The Telegraph.
Harry criticised the security arrangements made for his family's visit to Britain in June 2021 for the memorial events for Diana, Princess of Wales, as they were described as "patchy, disjointed and inadequate." Legal documents relating to Prince Harry's libel claim against the Mail on Sunday disclosed the dispute between the Duke and the Home Office over his future security arrangements.
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Prince Harry's libel claim against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) relates to an article published last February that allegedly contained a false claim concerning his willingness to pay for his own police protection in the UK. The Duke won a judicial review against the Home Office's decision to deny his family automatic security in September 2021, but a date for the hearing has not been set yet.
Prince Harry's lawyers stated that he was "gravely concerned about his safety and security during future trips to the UK" and that he felt he had no choice but to take legal action "given the gravity of what is at stake for him and his family". According to them, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been subject to intense media scrutiny, hostile social media attention and targeting by violent extremists. This is due to the Duke's ten years of military service in the British Army, the Duchess of Sussex's race and their involvement in charitable and other social justice initiatives.
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Prince Harry's legal team also claimed that the requirement to give 28 days' notice of a visit, during which a case by case decision would be made by the Royal and VIP Executive Committee (RAVEC) whether to provide him with security, creates uncertainty and could threaten his safety. They further stated that this requirement hinders their ability to plan for and manage his security arrangements, which may lead to his actual arrangements being inadequate and compromising his ultimate security.
