Prince Harry admits to "significant tensions" with Palace staff
Prince Harry has laid bare "significant tensions" with one of Queen Elizabeth's top aides as his case against police protection has gone to court.
The Duke of Sussex is suing the UK Home Office due to its refusal to spend taxpayers’ money on his bodyguards after he quit royal life in January 2020.
The Sun reports that Prince Harry's lawyers asked Mr Justice Swift at a hearing in London to allow a full judicial review of the Home Office’s decision.
They revealed Harry believes the Queen’s private secretary, Sir Edward Young, “should not have been involved” in the February 2020 decision, adding there were “significant tensions” between the pair.
The Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (known as Ravec) - of which the Queen’s private secretary was involved - ruled that Prince Harry would no longer be given the “same degree” of personal protective security when visiting the UK, despite offering to pay for it himself.
The duke’s legal team want to argue the security arrangements set out in a letter from Ravec, and their application when he visited the UK in June 2021, were invalid due to “procedural unfairness”.
Shaeed Fatima QC, the lawyer for the duke, told the court, “He didn’t know at that stage that the Royal Household was involved at all... he was told it was an independent decision.”
She also said there were “significant tensions” between Harry and Sir Edward Young, at that time which influenced the decision.
Ms Fatima said he was denied the opportunity to make representations directly to Ravec and was “materially prejudiced” because “among other things, his offer to pay (for security) was not conveyed to Ravec before the decision was made”.
Harry has now hinted at a second lawsuit, with the court filing adding, “[Prince Harry] has engaged in pre-action correspondence for a proposed second judicial review claim in relation to these matters, and intends to issue that claim shortly.”
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