Buckingham Palace hits back after Prince Harry loses legal challenge and King 'won't speak to me' comments
2 May 2025, 19:25 | Updated: 2 May 2025, 20:04
Buckingham Palace has responded after Prince Harry lost a legal challenge over his security arrangements while in the UK.
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His taxpayer-funded protection was changed when he stopped being a working Royal in 2020.
The Duke of Sussex said he did not feel safe coming here otherwise.
Hours after the ruling from Court of Appeal, a spokesperson for the Palace said: “All of these issues have been examined repeatedly and meticulously by the courts, with the same conclusion reached on each occasion”.
Earlier, the Duke of Sussex has revealed he is ready for "reconciliation" with his family, saying "life is precious" and he doesn't know how much longer his father has.
He spoke about his strained relationship with his family in an interview after he lost the challenge.
He said: "Of course, some members of my family will never forgive me for writing a book. Of course, they will never forgive me for lots of things. But I would love reconciliation with my family."
Harry made reference to his father King Charles's cancer battle as he said: "There's no point in continuing to fight anymore. Life is precious. I don't know how much longer my father has. He won't speak to me because of this security stuff."
The Duke of Sussex said it's “impossible” to take his family back to the UK safely after losing the challenge.
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Speaking to BBC News after the decision he said: “For the time being, it’s impossible for me to take my family back to the UK safely.”
He added: “I can’t see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the UK at this point, and the things that they’re going to miss is, well, everything you know.
“I love my country I always have done, despite what some people in that country have done.
“So you know? I miss the UK, I miss parts of the UK. Of course I do. And I think that’s it’s really quite sad that I won’t be able to show my children my homeland.”
Harry had appealed against the dismissal of his High Court claim against the Home Office over the decision of the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec) that he should receive a different degree of protection when in the UK.
His barristers told a two-day hearing in April that he was “singled out” for “inferior treatment” and that Ravec did not follow its own “terms of reference” when deciding his security.
The Home Office, which is legally responsible for Ravec’s decisions, opposed the appeal, with its lawyers telling the court that a “bespoke” process was used for Harry and that the duke had “no proper basis” for challenging Ravec’s decision.
In a ruling on Friday, Sir Geoffrey Vos, Lord Justice Bean and Lord Justice Edis dismissed Harry’s appeal.
Reading a summary of the decision, Sir Geoffrey said:”The duke was in effect stepping in and out of the cohort of protection provided by Ravec.
“Outside the UK, he was outside the cohort, but when in the UK, his security would be considered as appropriate.”
He continued: “It was impossible to say that this reasoning was illogical or inappropriate, indeed it seemed sensible.”
Sir Geoffrey also said Ravec’s decision was “understandable and perhaps predictable”.
