Royal | News - Prince Ricardo De La Cerda
Prince Harry has been given the green light to appeal the case he lost in the High Court against the Home Office, although it is still unclear whether he will do so.
The Duke of Sussex first took legal action in February 2020 when the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec) decided he should receive a different degree of protection to other members of the Royal Family.
Just a few weeks earlier Harry and Meghan Markle announced their decision to step down as working members of the Firm, leading to his security being reviewed.
In a judgement from February this year High Court judge Peter Lane rejected the Duke’s claims that the decision was unfair and ruled that the Home Office and Ravec’s decision would stand.
But now Harry has been told he can appeal the verdict at the Court of Appeal, according to an order from Lord Justice Bean dated May 23 2024.
In his 52-page ruling Sir Peter argued that lawyers representing the Duke of Sussex had made “an inappropriate, formalist interpretation of the Ravec process” during the High Court case.
He added: “The ‘bespoke’ process devised for the claimant in the decision of February 28 2020 was, and is, legally sound.”
Sir Peter accepted the decision of Sir Richard Mottram, Ravec’s former chairman, and argued that he would have come to the same conclusions back in 2020 even if he had been presented with Harry’s argument then.