The British High Court will release their ruling on Prince Harry’s security appeal today, around 2 pm GMT (around 9 am EST). Harry went to London for the two-day appeal hearing last month, much to the chagrin of Buckingham Palace. This appeal is likely Harry’s final chance to fight his current security arrangement in the UK, which forces him to give 30-days notice to the Met Police, and even then, the police and Ravec can still reject his security requests for no reason at all.
The Duke of Sussex will discover whether he has won a Court of Appeal challenge over his security arrangements while in the UK on Friday afternoon, according to court listings.
Harry is challenging 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 country. At a two-day hearing in April, barristers for the duke told the Court of Appeal that he was “singled out” for “inferior treatment” and that his safety, security and life are “at stake”.
The Home Office, which is legally responsible for Ravec’s decisions, opposes the appeal, with its lawyers telling the court that Ravec’s decision was taken in a “unique set of circumstances” and that there was “no proper basis” for challenging it.
Court listings show that Sir Geoffrey Vos, Lord Justice Bean and Lord Justice Edis will hand down their ruling at the Royal Courts of Justice in London at 2pm on Friday.
I will update this post when the ruling comes out. I don’t have high hopes for this appeal, and Buckingham Palace/royal sources have already said outright that even if Harry’s appeal is successful, it won’t really change anything and they’ll find some other way to reject his security requests and put him in danger. It’s clear that Harry’s legal journey has had multifold objectives, including his fact-finding mission to understand how badly he was screwed over in 2020 and who gave the orders to leave his family in mortal danger.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
