Prince Harry’s most-recent battle with the Home Office over police protection in the UK cost British taxpayers an eye-watering £100,000, according to new figures revealed today. It emerged last month that Harry had lost his appeal to reinstate security when visiting his home country.
Speaking to the BBC on May 2, the Duke of Sussex said that he wished “someone had told me beforehand” there was “no way to win”. Today, the Daily Mail has reported that the Home Office has put its legal costs in the case at £656,324, which includes £554,000 for the original case a year ago, which the High Court ruled the royal had “comprehensively lost”.
Since the original decision was made, Harry, 40, appealed, which then cost an additional £102,000.
The publication also revealed that, as the losing party, Harry will be ordered to reimburse taxpayers all or most of the costs.
After he lost the original case last year, a judge said Harry should repay 90 percent of the public’s costs.
Harry attended a two-day hearing in the UK in April. During his appearance, Harry’s barrister argued that removing his automatic right to police protection when he was in the UK had put his life “at stake”.
Harry told the BBC last month that he “pretty gutted” but the decision, adding: ‘It’s certainly proven that there is no way to win this through the courts – wish someone had told me that beforehand. But yeah, the decision has been a surprise as well as not a surprise.”
Speaking of his children, Archie, 6, and Lilibet, 4, Harry added: “I think it’s really quite sad that I won’t be able to show my children my homeland.”
As well as revealing his upset over the ongoing feud with the royals, Harry also raged that “the other side” in the court case had “won in keeping me unsafe”.
