Prince Harry's lawyer says he was treated inferiorly after being 'forced to step back' from royal duties
LONDON, ENGLAND: Prince Harry on Tuesday, April 8, informed the Court of Appeal that he received inferior treatment after being "forced to step back" from royal duties in 2020.
Prince Harry's KC, Shaheed Fatima, said that both he and his wife Meghan Markle "considered they were not being protected by the institution," the Daily Mail reported.
Prince Harry says he received inferior treatment after being 'forced to step back' from royal duties
Prince Harry was present at the Royal Courts of Justice to support his two-day appeal against a ruling over the right that he, Meghan, and his children, Archie, and Lilibet, must have taxpayer-funded bodyguards while visiting the United Kingdom.
However, the Home Office's barrister said that the Duke of Sussex's appeal "involves a continued failure to see the wood for the trees," per the outlet.
Notably, Harry challenged the dismissal of his High Court legal action against the Home Office regarding the decision of the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec) that he should get a different degree of protection when in England because he stepped down as a full-time royal.
Moreover, his case has cost the British taxpayer more than $640K so far, as per the outlet.
Fatima said in the court on Tuesday that Prince Harry had been "singled out" for "inferior treatment" when he was stripped of the high level of protection he was given earlier by the Metropolitan Police.
She said, "When Ravec made its February 2020 decision about the appellant's protective security, it did not apply its own terms of reference to that decision-making process."
Fatima added that Ravec came up with a different and so-called "bespoke process."
She continued, "The appellant (Prince Harry) does not accept that 'bespoke' means 'better'. In fact, in his submission, it means that he has been singled out for different, unjustified, and inferior treatment."
Moreover, Fatima said in written submissions submitted to the Court of Appeal, "This appeal concerns the most fundamental right: to safety and security of person."
"On January 8 2020, (the Duke of Sussex) and his wife felt forced to step back from the role of full-time official working members of the royal family as they considered they were not being protected by the institution, but they wished to continue their duties in support of the late Queen as privately funded members of the royal family," she added.
However, she later said that Harry was "not in a position to make any informed representations to Ravec."
Prince Harry got to know about King Charles' hospitalization from the news
In March, King Charles was briefly hospitalized after he suffered side effects due to his ongoing cancer treatment. However, his younger son Harry was not informed about it, and he got to know about it via the news, as per The Mirror.
Meanwhile, the King was released from the hospital after a short stint in the evening and returned to Clarence House.
However, he canceled a trip to Birmingham after getting medical advice, per the outlet.
Moreover, the palace did not inform Harry about his father’s hospitalization because they allegedly did not "want to cause unnecessary alarm" by contacting the Duke of Sussex, the outlet reported.
As per a statement shared by Buckingham Palace, the King was admitted to The London Clinic after he suffered some side effects from his cancer treatment.
