Prince Harry wins appeal opportunity in UK security downgrade case

Prince Harry will be allowed to appeal the decision to downgrade his personal security when he visits Britain, according to a judge’s ruling published on Thursday.

The younger son of King Charles III took legal action after the British government told him in 2020 that he would no longer be given the “same degree” of publicly funded protection when he is in the UK.

The High Court in London ruled in February that the government had acted lawfully, but judge David Bean said in an order dated May 23 that Harry could challenge the decision at the Court of Appeal.

The prince, also known as the Duke of Sussex, relocated to North America in 2020 with his wife Meghan, eventually settling in California in the United States. He is no longer classified as a working royal.

Harry, a former British army captain who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan, told a hearing in December that security concerns were preventing visits back to Britain.

“The UK is my home. The UK is central to the heritage of my children,” he said in a written statement read out by his lawyers.

“That cannot happen if it’s not possible to keep them safe.

“I cannot put my wife in danger like that and, given my experiences in life, I am reluctant to unnecessarily put myself in harm’s way too.”

Harry’s mother Princess Diana was killed in a high-speed car crash in Paris in 1997 as she tried to escape paparazzi photographers.

The legal action over his personal security is one of various lawsuits Harry has pursued in recent years in Britain, primarily over phone hacking by newspapers.

After a UK judge ruled in December that he had been a victim of phone hacking by journalists working for Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), he reached an out-of-court settlement in February.