Prince Harry has filed for judicial review after the Home Office said he would not be able to personally pay for police protection for himself and his family if he visited the UK.
The Duke of Sussex wants to bring his son Archie and baby daughter Lillibet to the UK.
The statement says that Harry “inherited a security risk at birth, for life,” that his private security team “cannot replicate the necessary police protection needed whilst in the UK,” and that without such protection “Prince Harry and his family are unable to return to his home.” A statement released today detailed how Prince Harry, his wife Meghan Markle and their two children Archie and Lilibet have been "unable to return to his home" after the Home Office rejected "close to two years of pleas for security in the UK"
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Harry claims he cannot “return home” because it is too dangerous, a legal representative said.
This is after an incident in London in the summer of 2021 when his safety was compromised when his car was chased by paparazzi photographers when he left a charity event.
A legal representative for Harry said the Duke wanted to fund security himself instead of asking taxpayers to pay the bill.
He argues that his personal security team in the United States does not have adequate jurisdiction abroad or access to the UK intelligence that the Sussex family needs to be protected.
“The UK will always be Prince Harry’s home and a country he wants his wife and children to be safe in,” the legal representative for the duke said in a statement to the PA news agency. “With the lack of police protection, comes too great a personal risk.”
The representative added: “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex personally fund a private security team for their family, yet that security cannot replicate the necessary police protection needed whilst in the UK.
“In the absence of such protection, Prince Harry and his family are unable to return to his home.”
Lillibet, now seven months old, has yet to meet her great-grandmother, the Grand Prince of Wales, and other family members.
The legal representative added: “Prince Harry inherited a life-saving security risk at birth. He is sixth on the throne, has made two war trips to Afghanistan, and in recent years his family has faced well-documented neo-Nazi and extremist threats.
“While his role within the Institution has changed, his profile as a member of the Royal Family has not. Nor has the threat to him and his family.”
