Prince Harry lost an attempt to legally challenge the British government’s decision not to allow him to pay for police protection while in the UK on Tuesday.
Harry, the youngest son of King Charles III, was stripped of the police security usually afforded to royal figures after he and his American wife Meghan stepped down from their official duties in 2020 to move to the United States.
The High Court in London, which already agreed last year that he should be allowed to challenge an original decision to end protection, ruled that he could not also seek a judicial review of whether to allow him to pay for specialist police officers himself.
The decision to strip him of publicly funded protection was made by the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures, known by the acronym RAVEC, which approves the safety of royalty and important personalities, such as the prime minister.
Judge Martin Chamberlain said in his written ruling that RAVEC was not wrong to decide that allowing payment of protection security was against the public interest.
His decision comes less than a week after Harry’s spokesman said the prince, his wife Meghan and their mother were involved in a «nearly catastrophic» car chase with press photographers after an awards ceremony in New York.