Prince Harry returned to the UK for a brief visit last week to attend two days of court hearings. The Duke of Sussex, 40, was photographed arriving at the High Court twice last week to hear the latest in his court appeal against the 2020 decision made by the Home Office to reduce his security protection in the UK.
The decision was made after Harry stepped back from royal duty and moved across the pond to America, where he has lived for the past five years. However, despite no longer being a working royal, the prince has appealed against the decision and has refused to bring his family to the UK until he feels it is safe to do so. While some royal fans may feel sorry for the prince, one royal expert believes it is Harry’s own fault.
Writing in The Sun, royal expert Ingrid Seward said that Harry destroyed his own “peace of mind” when he spoke in his memoir Spare about killing 25 Taliban during his time in Afghanistan, describing them as “chess pieces taken off the board”.
Seward wrote in The Sun: “Without apparently fully considering the consequences, Harry had potentially written his own death warrant. The Army was furious and said he had let the side down with his careless remarks.
“Much of Harry’s fight about his personal security stems from this error of judgment. By revealing what he did he put not only himself, but others, in danger.”
The royal expert also went on to say that his security problems are of his “own making”, with it not being fair for the British taxpayer if they are the ones who have to pay for his security – especially as he is not a working royal.
Airing these views, Ingrid said: “There is no reason for the British people to want to pay to provide Harry and his family with state-funded security protection when he visits. He is no longer a working member of the Royal Family and that was his choice.”
The outcome of Harry’s court appeal is set to be confirmed in writing at a later date.
The prince attended the court hearings in person last week and waved to crowds as he entered the court alone without his wife Meghan Markle, who stayed at the family’s home in Montecito, California, with their children Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three
Shaheed Fatima KC, representing Harry, said in court last week: “There is a person sitting behind me (Harry) whose safety, whose security, and whose life is at stake. We do say that his presence here, and throughout this appeal, is a potent illustration, were one needed, of how much this appeal means to him and his family.”
The Home Office made the initial decision about reducing Prince Harry’s level of taxpayer-funded security when he announced his decision to step down as a working member of the Royal Family in 2020.