Prince Harry has threatened the Authorities with authorized motion over its determination to take away his taxpayer-funded safety, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Attorneys appearing for Harry, who stepped down from Royal duties two years in the past, have written a 'pre-action protocol' letter to the Dwelling Workplace, indicating they may search a judicial overview if continued safety isn't offered by the UK.
If the case proceeds, it would result in a battle within the Excessive Courtroom between Ministers and Prince Harry.
The Queen is known to have been made conscious of her grandson's motion, which is considered the primary time a member of the Royal Household has introduced a case in opposition to Her Majesty's Authorities.
A supply stated: 'Harry's argument in a nutshell is: 'You bought the regulation unsuitable.' He feels the choice to take away his safety was unsuitable. Pre-action protocol was despatched by Harry's attorneys to the Dwelling Workplace a few months in the past. That is basically a precursor to a judicial overview.'
Suggesting why Harry might have chosen now - two years after 'Megxit' - to launch his authorized bid, the supply added: 'When Harry got here again final April for Prince Philip's funeral, he was given safety. However when he got here again in the summertime, he wasn't.'
Forward of the funeral, Harry travelled to Britain along with his personal safety group, however was met on the tarmac at Heathrow by Scotland Yard safety officers.
It's understood that was not the case when he returned to the UK for the revealing of a statue of Princess Diana at Kensington Palace along with his brother William in July. Following a 20-minute reception after the revealing, Harry left with bodyguards thought to have been offered at his personal expense.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have made no secret of their unhappiness on the elimination of their taxpayer-funded safety.
The couple had been dwelling in Canada - guarded by publicly funded British UK and Canadian safety - when 'Megxit' was introduced in January 2020.
On the identical time, the safety part of their new web site - on which they detailed their notion of a 'new working mannequin' - described them as 'internationally protected folks'. However the 'working mannequin' had not been agreed by the Queen and the part was swiftly eliminated.
Following disaster talks at Sandringham, it was finally agreed that the Sussexes would not use their 'HRH' titles and Harry was stripped of his navy honours.
In the meantime, a 'Royal and VIP Government Committee' comprising the Dwelling Secretary, the Metropolitan Police's royalty safety command chief and palace officers determined that the couple's 24-hour safety couldn't proceed given they had been not working royals dwelling in Britain.
That call clearly rankled with Harry, who used the bombshell TV interview with US chatshow host Oprah Winfrey final March to precise his anger at it.
He stated: 'The most important concern was that whereas we had been in Canada, in another person's home, I then acquired informed at brief discover safety was going to be eliminated... Their justification is a change in standing, of which I pushed again and stated, 'Nicely, is there a change of risk or danger?'
'And after many weeks of ready, finally I acquired the affirmation that no, the danger and risk hasn't modified however [it was] as a result of our change in standing, [by] which we might not be official working members of the Royal Household.' He added: 'My household actually lower me off financially and I needed to afford safety for us.'
Ms Winfrey stated the couple weren't paid for the interview, however Harry had, by then, obtained a reported £500,000 price to offer a keynote speech to J P Morgan bankers in Miami.
Earlier than transferring into their nine-bedroom, £10 million house in Montecito, California, they got using a mansion owned by leisure tycoon Tyler Perry, who additionally offered the couple with safety.
Meghan informed Ms Winfrey: 'We wanted a home and he provided safety as properly, so it gave us respiratory room to attempt to determine what we had been going to do.'
Harry's determination to instruct his attorneys, Schillings, to threaten authorized motion in opposition to the Authorities might inflame tensions along with his household.
It additionally supplies an extra headache for the Queen solely days after she stripped Prince Andrew of his navy honours and charity patronages after a US choose dominated {that a} declare of intercourse abuse made in opposition to him - and vehemently denied - would proceed.
Like Harry, Andrew will not use his 'HRH' title. The Queen's second son might additionally lose his safety, estimated to value £2 million yearly. Princess Anne and Prince Edward obtain safety solely when they're conducting royal duties.
Throughout a earlier overview of safety spending in 2011, Andrew's daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie - then fifth and sixth in line to the Throne - had their police safety eliminated on the grounds they had been non-working Royals.
If Harry wins his case, any 'treatment' or answer can be on the discretion of the choose.
The authorized battle could possibly be costly, with the loser prone to need to pay the prices of the winner in addition to their very own. The Sussexes, nonetheless, have secured a string of profitable offers, together with a reported £18 million settlement with streaming large Spotify and a partnership with Netflix.
A Authorities spokesman stated final evening: 'The UK Authorities's protecting safety system is rigorous and proportionate. It's our long-standing coverage to not present detailed info on these preparations. To take action might compromise their integrity and have an effect on people' safety. It will additionally not be applicable to touch upon the element of any authorized proceedings.'
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex had been contacted for remark.
Are fears for the security of Archie and Lilibet behind calls for?
SARAH VINE: Prince Harry, in the event you nonetheless need safety for the household, get your mates at Netflix to shell out for it
By SARAH VINE for the Mail on Sunday
Prince Harry does decide his moments, would not he? Simply in case the Queen had briefly forgotten concerning the nightmare that he and the Duchess of Sussex have visited upon her in current months, right here he's to remind her that, no matter different urgent points she may need on her plate, it is all about HIM.
What a whining, pathetic bore this man has grow to be.
What an entitled, tedious little ingrate.
Not content material with trashing his household, splashing his grievances everywhere in the world's entrance pages and kicking his 95-year-old granny when she's down, he is now demanding that she - and the British taxpayer - stump up for the privilege.
Let's be in little question: it was Harry and Meghan's personal determination to depart behind their Royal trappings looking for a unique life in America. Theirs and theirs alone.
And whereas they might delude themselves that they had been pressured into exile by an ungrateful nation insufficiently appreciative of their gracious presence, the reality is that they actually did not need to go.
They went as a result of it suited their objective, and since their ambitions exceeded what they noticed because the parochial, limiting confines of pricey outdated Blighty.
They went as a result of they'd satisfied themselves that they had been being poorly handled, when in actual fact they'd each alternative to make a hit of issues. They only could not be bothered to attempt.
Which is truthful sufficient - it is their life in spite of everything, their selection. However personal it. As an alternative, they've spent the previous two years blaming everybody else.
When it was not different folks's strategy in direction of them that brought on all their issues within the first place, it was their appalling angle and their willpower to see the slightest criticism as an act of aggression.
Anybody who handled them with something aside from whole sycophancy - even inside the ranks of their very own household and advisers - turned an enemy.
Fact is, all of us adored them each till they began appearing like a pair of woke evangelists, lecturing the world about how folks ought to behave whereas demonstrating spectacular ranges of hypocrisy and conceitedness.
Hopping on personal jets when it suited them whereas happening about local weather change; luxuriating within the generosity of the British taxpayer and the trimmings of their Royal standing whereas refusing to play their half with something aside from resentment and rancour; abandoning their duties for the sake of a life with out accountability (however with a newfound alternative to commerce on their titles and standing to safe profitable offers overseas for spilling the Royal beans).
They forged themselves as 'victims' at each flip, refusing to simply accept their very own half on this tedious and unending drama.
Truth is, they misplaced their taxpayer-funded safety safety as a result of they selected to relinquish their Royal standing and transfer midway internationally to the sunny uplands of California.
Why ought to the British folks proceed to pay for 2 individuals who need nothing to do with Britain or our Royal Household?
If somebody quits their job for more cash and higher perks, then badmouths their earlier employer throughout city, they can not additionally demand they preserve their outdated firm bank card, can they?
And but that is basically what Harry is asking for. If you need safety, Harry, get your new mates at Netflix to pay for it. I am certain they will be very happy to stump up in alternate for one more no holds barred moan-a-thon concerning the depraved of us again house.
The truth that he's selecting to embark on this plan of action in such an aggressive manner and thru authorized channels at a time of nice problem for the Queen is simply the final straw so far as I am involved.
Proof, if proof had been wanted, that Prince Harry actually has grow to be the type of fellow who would sue his personal grandmother for the sake of a fast buck.
