A woman was heard yelling at Prince Harry as he left the courtroom today, and body guards hurried him away from the hearing after the outburst. The Duke of Sussex has been at the Court of Appeal today to challenge 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 taxpayer funded protection when in the UK.
While proceedings were paused to allow the room to be cleared, a member of the public was heard shouting: “I support you Prince Harry“. His security team then made sure they got between him and the woman, as she added: “If you’re members of the press, you’re the reason he’s no longer in England.”
Harry was then removed from the courtroom, later returning for the private part of the hearing. It comes after the Duke arrived at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London earlier for the second day of the hearing. Harry, who lives in the United States, could be seen writing on light blue sticky notes and quietly talking with part of his legal team during parts of the hearing.
The two-day appeal comes after retired High Court judge Sir Peter Lane ruled last year that Ravec’s decision, taken in early 2020 after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex quit as senior working royals, was lawful. The appeal previously heard from Shaheed Fatima KC, for the duke, who said that Ravec came up with a “different and so-called bespoke process” for Harry.
She continued: “The appellant does not accept that ‘bespoke’ means ‘better’. In fact, in his submission, it means that he has been singled out for different, unjustified and inferior treatment.” Ms Fatima told judges that the bespoke process involves Ravec considering why Harry would attend a particular event “even though that is plainly irrelevant to the question of security”.
During the public part of the hearing today, Sir James Eadie KC, for the Home Office, said that Ravec was faced with a “unique set of circumstances”. He told the court: “There is no proper basis for challenging the decision that the bespoke assessment was appropriate…What mattered was the question of substance of how they were going to deal with this unique set of circumstances.”
The barrister later said that the committee does not proceed “by way of comparison” between people under its remit. Sir James said: “That is for the obvious reason that it is highly unlikely that two cases will ever in truth be the same, when judged against the broad guiding principles that apply.”
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He added: “It needs to acknowledged squarely that is extremely difficult and perhaps not very profitable to seek to compare cases, other than through the broad guiding principles, as apply across a range of similar cases.” The hearing before Sir Geoffrey Vos, Lord Justice Bean, and Lord Justice Edis is due to conclude on later today with a decision expected in writing at a later date.
Harry has been in court the past two days for the hearing after secretly travelling to the UK from California over the weekend. On his way in yesterday, he brushed off any questions about King Charles, with reports suggesting that father and son did not meet despite them both being in the country for several hours together on Sunday.
Harry is believed to have last seen his father more than a year ago when he dashed to the UK from the United States when it was announced that the King had been diagnosed with cancer. Harry also visited the UK without meeting his father in May last year, during a trip to celebrate his Invictus Games. He said at the time that he hoped to see his father “soon” after the King’s “full programme” meant a reunion was not then possible.
Harry and Charles’ relationship has remained strained after the duke stepped down as a working royal and moved to the US with wife Meghan and their family. It is said that the issue of Harry’s security has contributed to their already fraught bond. According to Harry’s friends, his calls to his father regarding the issue have gone “unanswered”, but sources close to the King have said that it would be “wholly inappropriate” for him to intervene.
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