Friday, June 7, 2024 -Prince Harry has been given the green light to appeal his High Court defeat over police protection.
The Duke of Sussex will be able to appeal against the dismissal over a decision to change the level of his personal security when he visits the UK.
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).
According to Mail Online, 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 Harry 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.
However, Prince Harry has now been 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.
In his 52-page partially redacted ruling
dismissing the duke's claim, Sir Peter said Harry's lawyers had taken 'an
inappropriate, formalist interpretation of the Ravec process'.
He added: 'The 'bespoke' process devised for
the claimant in the decision of February 28 2020 was, and is, legally sound.'
The judge said he accepted comments from Sir
Richard Mottram, the former chairman of Ravec, who said that, even if he had
received a document setting out all of Harry's legal arguments in February
2020, 'I would have reached the same decision for materially the same reasons'.
Ravec has delegated responsibility from the
Home Office over the provision of protective security arrangements for members
of the royal family and others, with involvement from the Metropolitan Police,
the Cabinet Office, and the royal household.
After the ruling earlier this year, a
legal spokesman for Harry said he intended to appeal, adding: 'The duke is not
asking for preferential treatment, but for a fair and lawful application of
Ravec's own rules, ensuring that he receives the same consideration as others
in accordance with Ravec's own written policy.
'In February 2020, Ravec failed to apply
its written policy to the Duke of Sussex and excluded him from a particular
risk analysis.
'The duke's case is that the so-called
'bespoke process' that applies to him is no substitute for that risk analysis.'
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