King Charles ‘frustrated’ by Prince Harry’s refusal to accept UK safety arrangements and the ‘mistaken belief that the King has control over his security’
King Charles is ‘frustrated’ by Prince Harry‘s refusal to accept UK safety arrangements, a source has claimed.
Harry is continuing to appeal against a High Court decision about his security, having lost several rounds of the case against the Home Office.
His wife Meghan wishes the Duke ‘could let go of these lawsuits’ and ‘live in the moment’, sources told People magazine last month.
But the King is said to be ‘frustrated’ at the ongoing fight and worries Harry wants to lobby him on the issue because of the ‘mistaken belief that the King has control over his security’, according to The Times.
Meghan Markle wishes Prince Harry could ‘let go’ of the legal battle over their family’s security as she wants the Duke to be ‘free’, sources have said
King Charles is said to be ‘frustrated’ by Prince Harry ‘s refusal to accept UK safety arrangements
Earlier this year, a High Court judge ruled that Harry had ‘comprehensively lost’ a bid to appeal against a Home Office decision about his UK security.
He had hoped for a judicial review over a decision made by the Royal and VIP Executive Committee (RAVEC) to remove his right to automatic police protection after he decided to exit the working Royal family.
Harry still receives protection when he comes back to Britain in certain circumstances, but must give 28 days’ notice on his plans.
He allegedly believes that his father should intervene in the security issue to make sure his youngest son and family are safe when in the UK.
The Times reported that King Charles worries Harry wants to lobby him on the issue, but he will not intervene and it is a ‘tricky’ situation.
A source told the newspaper the King wants no involvement with his son’s Home Office battle.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, departs the High Court in June 2023
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at a polo fundraiser event in Lagos, Nigeria, on May 12
‘His Majesty’s son is suing His Majesty’s government, and that is very tricky for the King. If they were to meet, there is a worry that son would lobby father because of the mistaken belief that the King has control over his security,’ the source said.
‘For him not to have accepted the judgment of His Majesty’s government and courts is frustrating.’
Harry took legal action against the Home Office over a February 2020 decision of the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec).
The royal was told he would no longer be given the ‘same degree’ of publicly-funded protection when in the UK – but his lawyers claimed he was ‘singled out’ and treated ‘less favourably’ by the body.
A spokesman for the Duke of Sussex at the time said he would appeal, adding that he was ‘not asking for preferential treatment, but for a fair and lawful application of Ravec’s own rules’.
But in another blow, retired High Court judge Sir Peter Lane rejected the duke’s case in February and concluded Ravec’s approach was not irrational nor procedurally unfair.
Prince Harry and Meghan visit the Lightway Academy, school in Abuja, Nigeria, May 10
For their 72 hours ‘private trip’ Harry and Meghan had their own four-man security team which they paid for themselves, and they were also given unprecedented security by Nigeria
However, Prince Harry was given the green light to challenge Sir Peter’s dismissal at the Court of Appeal, according to an order by Lord Justice Bean dated May 23.
Two days before the order allowing the royal to appeal the decision to remove his security, it was reported Prince Harry turned down a meeting with King Charles because it didn’t come with security provisions.
It would have left him staying in a ‘visible location with public entrance and exit points and no police protection’.
Instead he chose to stay at a hotel – presumably with members of the public – because it meant he ‘could come and go unseen’, claimed The Telegraph.
About a week before that – on May 10 – Prince Harry and Meghan’s visit to Nigeria (the world’s 12th most dangerous country) raised eyebrows.
Official advice from the UK government is to avoid ‘all but essential travel’ to parts of Nigeria which has a murder rate of 34 per 100,000 people (the UK Is just over one) and is prone to kidnappings.
US magazine People reported two weeks ago that a former employee of the Sussexes’ Archewell Foundation said Harry’s wife is also fed up with the fight: ‘[Meghan] wants him to be free of all of this, but she also knows that because of everything he’s been through and his love for [her and their children], he can’t.
‘She wants him to live in a world where he is not burdened by this.’
Harry previously told an ITV interviewer that he ‘won’t bring my wife back to this country’ over ‘genuine concerns’ about security.
Royal experts told The Mail on Sunday that the King will become ‘more and more remote’ from the children in an ‘incredibly sad situation’.
King Charles last saw Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three, in June 2022 when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex returned for the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
