Prince Harry is now awaiting the judgment of an appeal in the latest stage of his legal battle over his security arrangements in the UK – and he has spoken out about the fight in an explosive interview

Prince Harry claims his “worst fears were confirmed” about the change in his taxpayer-funded police protection and “people would be shocked” by private evidence heard during his long-running legal battle. The Duke of Sussex has been 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 UK.

Harry has argued he can not bring his wife Meghan and two children, Archie, five and Lilibet, three, to the UK, because he does not feel safe, despite being offered security if there is a specific threat. In February 2020, Ravec decided that the duke and his family should receive a different degree of protection when in the country after they moved to the US.

Prince Harry at the Royal Courts of Justice last week (Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)

The Duke attended a two-day hearing at the Court of Appeal in London last week, which partly sat in private to hear confidential evidence. Harry was allowed to stay in court when the confidential matters were discussed. And speaking to The Telegraph after leaving the Royal Courts of Justice, he claimed “people would be shocked by what’s being held back” adding that his “worst fears have been confirmed by the whole legal disclosure in this case and that’s really sad”.

It is reported that Harry suggested the decision taken over his security arrangements in the UK was an attempt to prevent him and wife Meghan, from quitting as working royals and moving abroad – which Buckingham Palace sources have vehemently denied. Harry said: “We were trying to create this happy house.”

The appeal comes after retired High Court judge Sir Peter Lane ruled last year that Ravec’s decision, taken in early 2020 after Harry and Meghan quit as senior working royals, was lawful. The Home Office, which has legal responsibility for the committee’s decisions, is opposing the appeal, with its lawyers previously telling the High Court that decisions were taken on a “case-by-case” basis.

Harry has argued he cannot bring his wife Meghan or children to the UK because it is not safe (Image: Invictus Games Foundation via Ge)

Harry also admitted he was ‘exhausted’ and ‘overwhelmed’ by the legal battle and suggested he considered the case his most important, saying “this one always mattered the most”. At the end of the hearing on Wednesday, judge Sir Geoffrey Vos said the Court of Appeal’s decision would be given in writing at a later date, which was “most unlikely” to be before Easter.

Since Harry’s visit to the UK last week to be at the court hearing, he made a secret trip to war-torn Ukraine to visit the Superhumans Centre in Lviv – an orthopaedic clinic and rehabilitation centre for adults and children affected by the war. He appears to have since returned home to California as Meghan’s Instagram account showed him having breakfast with their children on Saturday.

Harry and Meghan announced they were stepping back from official public duties on January 8, 2020. The duke and duchess were later told during the so-called ‘Sandringham summit’, which aimed to agree the terms of their new role, that they would not be able to retain full-time police protection.

Such protection is currently granted to the King and Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three children. Ravec’s final decision shared on February 28, 2020, stated that Metropolitan Police protection would no longer be appropriate after the Sussexes’ departure and that they should receive a different degree of protection when in the UK.

The Sussexes would instead receive a “bespoke” security service, whereby they would be required to give 30 days’ notice of any plans to travel to the UK, with each visit being assessed for threat levels and whether protection is needed. Shaheed Fatima KC, who represents Harry, told the appeal hearing that the duke had been “singled out for different, unjustified and inferior treatment”, adding that Harry “does not accept that ‘bespoke’ means ‘better’.”

The Home Office told the court the challenge “involves a continued failure to see the wood for the trees, advancing propositions available only by reading small parts of the evidence, and now the judgment, out of context and ignoring the totality of the picture”.