Prince Harry files claim against Home Office decision not to allow him to pay for own security on UK visit

Prince Harry has filed a claim for a judicial review against a Home Office decision not to allow him to personally pay for police protection while he and his family are in the UK.

Harry wants to bring his son Archie, 2, and seven-month-old daughter Lilibet to the UK for a visit from the US.

But a legal representative said he and his family are “unable to return to his home” because it is too dangerous.

They added that the Duke of Sussex wanted to fund the police protection himself, rather than “impose on the British taxpayer”.

It comes after Harry’s security was compromised last summer after his car was chased by paparazzi photographers as he left a charity event in London.

In the claim, filed in September, Harry argues his US private protection team do not have adequate jurisdiction abroad or access to UK intelligence information needed to keep his family safe.

Harry and Meghan lost their taxpayer-funded police protection after stepping down as senior working royals in 2020.

“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.”

Lilibet, who was born in California last June, is yet to meet her great-grandmother the Queen, grandfather the Prince of Wales and other members of the royal family face-to-face.

Prince Harry briefly returned to the UK alone last July for the unveiling of the Diana, Princess of Wales memorial statue.

He also met with seriously ill children and young people at a WellChild harden party and afternoon tea in Kew Gardens, west Lodnon. It is understood that his car was then chased by photographer’s as he left.

His mother Diana died in a car crash after being chased by members of the paparazzi in Paris.

His legal representative added: “Prince Harry inherited a security risk at birth, for life. He remains sixth in line to the throne, served two tours of combat duty in Afghanistan, and in recent years his family has been subjected to 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.”