Prince Harry has failed to persuade a London court to grant him special London police protection when he is on the Island – for a fee.
When the younger son of the king Charles III. in 2020, he gave up his royal duties and moved to the US, thereby also losing his right to protection, which his lawyer has now challenged. Harry was prepared to pay for police protection out of his own pocket, but the judge has now dismissed the case after a hearing last week.
Home Office lawyers object to the concept of wealthy people, whether or not they are princes, “buying” police protection.
Some cynics believe that Harry and his wife Meghan that’s why she hung her “near-catastrophic escape” from the paparazzi last week in New York on a big bell to bolster the prince’s argument that security is essential. And despite the country automatically denying him protection after he officially ceased to be an active member of the royal family, Harry’s lawyers contested the decision, saying it was not made due to due process.
“Ravec (Executive Committee for the Protection of Public Persons and the Royal Family) has exceeded its powers and its authority because it does not have the authority to make such a decision in the first place,” Harry’s lawyer said outside court. As he pointed out, there are exceptions in the legislation that allow paid engagements of the police.
But the lawyers of the Ministry of the Interior replied to him that police officers who de facto act as “bodyguards” is not the same as, for example, enhanced police security for football matches. They pointed out that Ravec’s committee unanimously rejected Harry’s team’s proposal to pay for private security, as they have an explicit policy against privately paying for police work, as it sends a message to the public that the rich can buy security.
Source: Rtvslo
