Alex Rayner, who went on a charity trek with Prince Harry to the North Pole, has hit out at the fact the Duke of Sussex no longer gets automatic police protection when in the UK
A pal of Prince Harry’s has slammed the decision not to give him automatic police protection in the UK as ‘spiteful’. Eton-educated Alex Rayner, who went on a charity trek to the North Pole with the Duke of Sussex and is still said to be in contact with him, also claimed other royals get security despite doing “far less”.
Harry was stripped of automatic police protection in Britain when he and wife Meghan, left the country after quitting as working royals.
After a lengthy legal battle, which he lost, it emerged that he wrote to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood shortly after her appointment and submitted a formal request for a risk assessment to the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec). This assessment is understood to be being carried out.
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But speaking out, Mr Rayner told the Daily Mail that Harry serving two tours of duty in Afghanistan when he was in the Army make him more vulnerable. He said: “To ask him to pay for it privately feels a tiny bit spiteful, given that there are other members of the Royal Family who receive it who do far less.
“This guy was flying Apaches in a conflict and we’ve got the Invictus Games coming up in Birmingham. Are we not supporting him for that?”
Reports earlier this year suggested that Harry was on the verge of having his armed police protection restored when he visits the UK and felt confident about the outcome of the assessment.
However, it has now been claimed that there is a split in Ravec with senior civil servants from the Home Office, the Cabinet Office and the Foreign Office against granting police protection, fearing the public’s reaction to taxpayers having to foot the bill.
According to The Telegraph, no final decision has been made but a source told the publication: “There is nervousness among certain members of the committee who fear a public backlash. The political side believes there is too much political risk, while the police and security chiefs believe that he absolutely must have it due to the extant threat.”
During his previous High Court case, Harry argued that his security situation in the UK made it “impossible” for him to safely bring Meghan and their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, back to his home country.
In an interview after the Court of Appeal handed down the judgement last May, he branded the decision a “good old-fashioned establishment stitch up and told the BBC : “For the time being, it’s impossible for me to take my family back to the UK safely. I will continue on with a life of public service. So I will always support the charities and the people that mean so much to me.
“I can’t see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the UK at this point, and the things that they’re going to miss is, well, everything you know. I love my country I always have done, despite what some people in that country have done. So you know? I miss the UK, I miss parts of the UK.
“Of course I do. And I think that’s it’s really quite sad that I won’t be able to show my children my homeland.” At present, Harry must inform the Metropolitan Police a month before travelling to the UK, who look at his security needs on a case-by-case basis. But his lawyers have previously argued this has put his life “at stake”.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The UK government’s protective security system is rigorous and proportionate. It is our long-standing policy not to provide detailed information on those arrangements, as doing so could compromise their integrity and affect individuals’ security.”
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