Prince Harry’s security arrangements in the UK are now ‘under review’

Prince Harry could be assured of taxpayer-funded security again after all, with the Home Office reported to have ordered a review of the threat level.

The loss of his full-time security while in the UK has been a long-running issue for the prince, who says it makes it ‘impossible’ to bring his wife and children to visit due to safety concerns.

He took the government to court over the decision he should receive a lower level of protection after quitting as a working member of the royal family, but lost an appeal in May.

The Home Office has now ordered a threat assessment for the first time since 2020, The Sun reported.

Harry wrote to Shabana Mahmood shortly after she was appointed Home Secretary, and submitted a formal request for a risk assessment to the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec), which is overseen by the Home Office, a source close to the duke said in October.

Ravec has now instructed its Risk Management Board to reassess his threat level, the Sun reported.

The process is said to already be underway, with a decision expected next month.

Before stepping down as a senior royal and moving to Canada with his family, Prince Harry and his family received the same full-time police protection currently granted to King Charles and Queen Camilla, the Prince and Princess of Wales, and their three children.

After 2020, Ravec decided the Sussexes would get a ‘bespoke’ security service, where they would have to give 30 days notice of any plans to travel to the UK, and each trip would then be assessed individually for threat levels.

Harry’s lawyers argue he ‘inherited a security risk at birth, for life’ due to being sixth in line to the throne. They say he is also a target from extremist threats because of his two tours of combat in Afghanistan.

During Harry’s last visit to the UK in September, a ‘known stalker’ came ‘within feet’ of him on two occasions, according to a report in The Telegraph.

He had offered to help fund police protection, but said he was not willing to simply make his own security arrangements, as private bodyguards would not have access to the latest threat intelligence.

In 2022, the Duke’s representatives said he wanted to bring wife Meghan, son Archie and daughter Lilibet to visit from the US, but he and his family are ‘unable to return to his home’ because it is too dangerous.

A Government spokesperson said: ‘The UK Government’s protective security system is rigorous and proportionate.

‘It is our long-standing policy not to provide detailed information on those arrangements, as doing so could compromise their integrity and affect individuals’ security.’

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