PRINCE Harry was blasted yesterday for trying to use armed Met Police officers as “private bodyguards for the wealthy”.

The force came out fighting at the High Court as the US-based royal appealed against the decision not to let him pay for armed security.

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The California-based Duke is appealing against a decision not to let him hire armed police bodyguards for his UK visits.

But the Metropolitan Police told the High Court it would lead to a two-tier system where the rich and famous fund their own private force.

Harry, 38, was stripped of 24-hour gun cops when he stopped being a working royal in 2020 and moved to North America with wife Meghan.

He is seeking a judicial review into the refusal to let him pay for police guards, claiming he feels unsafe on trips back home.

But the Met said allowing Harry to pay for round-the-clock protection would divert vital resources from those truly in need.

The force told the High Court it would be “unjust” to let the rich and famous get preferential treatment over cases where protected persons had less money.

The Met said in its statement: “To allow an individual to pay for protective security would create a precedent in which other wealthy individuals could argue that they too should be permitted to pay for such services.”

Harry disagrees with decisions made by the Home Office and the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures, known as Ravec.

Ravec assigns gun cops based on public interest, risk to individual and amount of resources, but not willingness to fund the policing privately, the court was told.

If the Met concluded there was a real and immediate threat to life it could deploy armed officers, it was said.

Police added that the Duke is in a better position than any other persons because of exceptional arrangements they have put in place.

But there were no reasons or exceptional public interest for Harry to get full protection, they said.

Matthew Butt KC, for the Met, stressed to the court: “Officers who provide security expose themselves to unique risks. 

“One doesn’t need to use too much imagination to work out what sort of risks are involved.

“It can’t be right that officers are expected to present themselves and expose themselves to that level of risk not in the public interest but because the policing body is to be financially compensated.

“It is only justified where public interest requires a unique policing operation.”

Harry’s lawyer Fatima Shaheed told the hearing that the decision to refuse his offer made no sense.

She argued that Ravec had operated beyond its remit as the final decision should be made by the Metropolitan Police Commissioner.

Ms Shaheed said the Duke was not given an opportunity to make representations to Ravec before it turned down his request to pay.

Regular cops are funded privately at one-off events such as football matches, marathons and even celebrity weddings, the court heard.

Robert Palmer KC, for the Home Office, said Harry’s request requires specialist officers with tactical skills that can only be deployed by Ravec.

A judicial review over the decision to strip him of protection will be heard later this year.

Yesterday’s separate judicial review appeal into the refusal to let him fund police was adjourned.

Justice Chamberlain will make his ruling in due course.

He suggested Harry is “seeking a completely different type of policing service” and compared it to a wealthy neighbourhood paying for private patrols.

Harry has already recruited ex-Met Police royal protection cop David “Langers” Langdown.

Last week The Sun exclusively revealed Meghan has hired Kim Kardashian’s ex-bodyguard.

A photo released by the Sussexes’ Archewell charity on Monday for Mental Health Awareness Month shows the couple talking to a youth group near their Montecito home.