'DIFFICULT TO SWALLOW'
Harry claims axing police protection was PLOT to force him & Meg back to UK moaning ‘my worst fears have been confirmed’
The Duke suggested evidence heard in court would shock people
PRINCE Harry has claimed axing his taxpayer-funded police protection was a PLOT to force him and Meghan back to Britain.
The Duke of Sussex, 40, also moaned his "worst fears have been confirmed" by secret evidence he heard in court.
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Harry is attempting to sue the Home Office because it refused to spend taxpayers' money on bodyguards after he left the Royal Family.
And now - after his appearance at London's High Court this week - Harry told the the decision to withdraw his security after Megxit was "difficult to swallow".
He felt that the decision was a scheme crafted to force him and Meghan back into the Royal Family again.
It came after Harry and Meghan quit the UK for California when they stepped back from royal duties in 2020.
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“People would be shocked by what’s being held back,” he said, adding that his “worst fears have been confirmed by the whole legal disclosure in this case and that’s really sad”.
Harry said he was "exhausted" and "overwhelmed" by the security battle.
The dad-of-two said when he is being "driven by exposing injustice" and that he is determined to “get under the bonnet and fix it”.
He also hinted he would never be able to forgive what he viewed as a deliberate move to scrap the protection for his family.
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The appeal decision will be handed down by the three-judge panel after Easter.
When Ravec’s original decision was shared that Met Police protection would be scrapped, the Duke said it had been imposed upon him “as some form of punishment for protecting my family and putting them first”.
Prince Harry makes surprise visit to Ukraine to meet war victims
But Royal biographer Ingrid Seward told The Sun: “His bridges are now well and truly burned.
“To attack his father like this is completely unnecessary and he obviously feels very vengeful against all the other members of his family.
“The idea that they took away his protection so that he would have to stay in the country . . . he’s delusional, isn’t he?”
At his second day of the hearing held this week, Harry begged "my life is stake".
Harry claimed he was "singled out" after his round-the-clock royal protection was stripped in the wake of Megxit.
But in February last year, High Court judge Sir Peter Lane rejected the duke's case and ruled Ravec's approach was not irrational or procedurally unfair.
At the hearing this week, Harry's lawyer Shaheed Fatima KC told the court in a closing statement: "There is a person sitting behind me whose safety, whose security and whose life is at stake.
“There is a person sitting behind me who’s being told that he is getting a special and bespoke process when he knows and has experienced a process that is manifestly inferior in every respect.”
She added: “We say that his presence here and through this appeal is a potent illustration, were one needed, about how much this appeal means to him and family.”
How the Royal drama gripped UK and beyond
JAN 8, 2020: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announce they are to “step back as senior members” of the Royal Family and divide their time between the UK and North America.
JAN 18: Buckingham Palace announces an agreement has been reached for Harry “to step back from royal duties, including official military appointments”.
JAN 20: The Palace announces Harry and Meghan will no longer use their HRH titles and will not receive public funds for royal duties. The couple say they intend to repay £2.4million of taxpayer money for the refurbishment of Frogmore Cottage, which will remain their UK family home.
MAR 3: Harry and the Queen meet for a four-hour conversation about Megxit.
MAR 9: Meghan and Harry attend the Commonwealth Day service – alongside William and Kate –their final royal event before giving up royal duties.
MAR 27: The couple move to Los Angeles after a brief stay in Canada.
JUNE: They buy an £11million mansion in Montecito, California.
SEPT: Netflix announces a huge $100million deal with the couple.
NOV: In an article in the New York Times, Meghan reveals she suffered a miscarriage four months earlier.
MAR 7, 2021: The couple give a US TV interview with Oprah Winfrey, in which the Duchess reveals her suicidal thoughts and accuses a member of the Royal Family of racism.
MAR 8: The Palace responds, saying the race issues raised are “concerning” and “while some recollections may vary” the matters will be “taken very seriously”.
APR 17: Harry attends the funeral of his grandfather the Duke of Edinburgh.
JUNE 4: Daughter Lilibet is born in a hospital in Santa Barbara, California.
JULY 1: Harry and William unite to unveil a statue of Diana at Kensington Palace.
JUNE 2022: The brothers come together for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, and again two months later for her funeral. The state occasion is Meghan’s final visit to the UK.
DEC: Netflix series Harry & Meghan airs. The Duke says in one episode it had been “terrifying” to have his brother “scream and shout” at him about their future.
JAN 8, 2023: Harry is interviewed by ITV to publicise his controversial book Spare – published two days later – claiming it was “Meghan versus Kate”.
APR: Harry has a “heart-to-heart” talk with dad Charles before agreeing to attend the King’s Coronation in London.
MAY 6: Arriving alone for the ceremony, he sits two rows behind his brother and leaves soon after the service.
JUNE: Harry becomes the first senior royal in more than 130 years to give evidence in court, when he appears at the High Court for his case against Mirror Group Newspapers.
JULY: Streaming giant Spotify announces it is parting ways with the Suss-exes’ Archewell Audio brand, above, in a “mutual decision”.
SEPT: Harry rejects an offer to spend the anniversary of the Queen’s death with his father at Balmoral.
FEB 2024: Harry flies to the UK to be with his father. They meet for half an hour before Harry flies home. He does not meet William.
MAR: Meghan launches lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard, which posts just nine times on Instagram.
APR: A judge brands Harry’s legal appeal for taxpayer-funded security following his move abroad “frankly hopeless”.
MAY: Harry pays a brief visit to London for an event held two miles from where Charles was staying. They do not meet.
JAN 1, 2025: Meghan relaunches her Instagram account with a video shot by Harry on a beach near their US home.
MAR: Meghan releases her Netflix show With Love, Meghan and launches As Ever
APR: Harry flies back to the UK for his security battle appeal and appears at London High Court - but fails to meet with his father.
Ms Fatima claimed on the first day Harry had been "singled out for different, unjustified and inferior treatment".
She also touched on Megxit - claiming in written documents that Harry and Meghan Markle felt "forced" to leave to the Royal Family.
The lawyer added: "On 8 January 2020, (the duke) 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."
Ms Fatima told the court Ravec came up with a "bespoke" process not applied to anyone else, but that Harry doesn't accept bespoke means "better".
She continued: "The appellant's case is not that he should automatically be entitled to the same protection as he was previously given when he was a working member of the royal family.
"The appellant's case is that he should be considered under the terms of reference and subject to the same process as any other individual being considered for protective security by Ravec, unless there is a cogent reason to the contrary."
In court documents, his team highlighted "recent security incidents" surrounding the Duke.
This included Al-Qaeda calling for Harry "to be murdered" after Ravec's decision in February 2020 to change his level of security.
Another refers to a May 2023 incident after "[Prince Harry] and his wife were involved in a dangerous car pursuit with paparazzi in New York City".
In their own written arguments, the government say Harry's "bare disagreement" with the decision to remove his security "does not amount to a ground of appeal".
They claimed that while Harry "disagrees vehemently" with his security arrangements, his views are "largely irrelevant".
The Home Office also claim they did not act "irrationally" and the previous judge was right to dismiss Harry's claim.
Barrister Sir James Eadie KC argued his appeal "involves a continued failure to see the wood for the trees".
Harry and Meghan were stripped of their round-the-clock protection when they stepped back from royal duties in 2020.
The royal moaned he was unable to return with Meghan and his children Archie and Lilibet, "because it is too dangerous".
He was allowed security when he stayed at royal residences or attended royal events but had to fend for himself if he wanted to see friends.
Harry's lawyers previously argued he was “singled out” and treated “less favourably” in the decision.
They added his treatment was “unlawful and unfair” and warned of “the impact on the UK’s reputation of a successful attack” against the duke.
Harry also wanted to but officials refused - with insiders insisting cops are not "guns for hire".
In his ruling in February, Sir Peter Lane said there had not been any "unlawfulness" in the call to pull Harry's security.
He said Harry’s lawyers had taken “an inappropriate, formalist interpretation of the Ravec process”.
The judge added: "The ‘bespoke’ process devised for the claimant in the decision of 28 February 2020 was, and is, legally sound.”
After the court hearing, Harry jetted off to Ukraine and visited the Superhumans Centre in Lviv yesterday.
The Duke made the unannounced trip today as part of his ongoing work with wounded veterans, a spokesperson said.
The journey sparked backlash from some experts who branded Harry a hypocrite for moaning about security and then visiting a war ravaged country.
Royal author Phil Dampier told The Sun he thought it was "ridiculous" while Hugo Vickers said he was "torn".
This also comes amid mounting drama over Harry's charity Sentebale.
The Duke last month sensationally quit the trust, which he co-founded in 2006 in memory of his mother, Princess Diana.
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Fellow royal patron Prince Seeiso of Lesotho and the rest of the Sentebale board also resigned after falling out with boss Dr Sophie Chandauka.
She has since accused Harry of bullying and harassment with the Charity Commission watchdog investigating her claims.
What level of security protection are working royals entitled to?
A HANDFUL of working members of the Royal Family have 24/7 protection - but others are assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Senior officers are assigned to specific members of the household and are supported by others, one expert told The Sun.
He claimed there will always be a minimum of one protection officer with a member of the Royal Family, but the protection team is increased according to threat and risk.
King Charles, Queen Camilla and the Wales' family have round-the-clock protection and the monarch also has a corridor officer based outside his bedroom door, the expert said.
The likes of Princess Anne, Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex are given protection when they are taking part in official engagements - but do not have taxpayer-funded security at their homes.
Prince Andrew had his taxpayer-funded security removed following the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
His daughters Princess Beatrice and Prince Eugenie are said to not have funded security as they are not full-time working royals - and are employed elsewhere.
Robert Jobson, an award-winning royal author, explained: "According to a 1917 Letters of Patent issued by King George V, the title of HRH Prince or Princess is passed to ‘The grandchildren of the sons of any such sovereign in the direct male line (save only the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales) shall have and enjoy in all occasions the style and title enjoyed by the children of dukes of this realm.
“Both Harry and Meghan know this. Archie, on the other hand, did not qualify to become a prince automatically.
“In 2012, Queen Elizabeth II issued a Letters Patent to expand on a previous decree that granted such a title only to the eldest son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales."
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