Prince Harry asks for UK security arrangements review
Prince Harry has written to the British Home Secretary, asking for security arrangements to be re-evaluated while he is in the UK.
A source close to the prince said Harry wrote to Shabana Mahmood shortly after his appointment and requested a formal risk assessment to the Executive Committee for the Protection of the Royal Family and Public Personalities (Ravec), which is overseen by the Home Office.
During Harry’s last visit to England in September, a “known stalker” came “close to his feet” twice, The Telegraph reported.
The newspaper said the woman entered a “secure area” at a central London hotel where the Duke of Sussex was attending the WellChild Awards on September 9, and was seen next to Harry at the Center for Blast Injury Research in London two days later.
It comes after Harry lost his appeal in May challenging the High Court’s dismissal of his case against the Home Office over its decision that Ravec should receive a different degree of taxpayer-funded protection in the UK.
A source close to Harry said the prince’s letter to Mahmood was sent during his September visit, before the two incidents.
After losing the Court of Appeal case, Harry said in a television interview that he “couldn’t see a world where I would bring my wife and children back to the UK”.
The 41-year-old told the BBC he would ask then-home secretary Yvette Cooper to “look at this very, very carefully” and warned that the royal family’s power over security meant it could be “used to control” family members.
He also said he would ask British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to “intervene”.
The legal challenge comes after Harry and the Duchess of Sussex announced they wanted to step down as senior royals after leaving the UK and moving first to Canada and then California.
