Prince Harry said tonight he was cut off from King Charles who ‘won’t speak to me’ – after losing his appeal in court over his security.
The Duke of Sussex revealed he did not know how long his father had left to live, adding: ‘I can’t see a world in which I would bring my wife and children back to the UK.’
In an astonishing interview with the BBC, Harry said he was ‘devastated’ after sensationally losing his battle over taxpayer-funded police bodyguards – putting him on the hook for £1.5million in legal costs.
He also launched a series of scathing attacks on his family, including that will never bring his wife or children back to the UK after having ‘so many disagreements’ with his relatives.
Harry added that it was ‘sad’ he would never be able to show his children his homeland but said some members of his family would ‘never forgive him’ for writing a book
England’s second most senior judge, Sir Geoffrey Vos, told the duke his ‘grievance’ over downgraded security had not ‘translated into a legal argument’.
And he ruled the security decision had been a ‘predictable’ and even ‘sensible’ reaction to Megxit when Harry stepped back from being a senior royal and quit Britain.
Last night in a devastating broadside reopening wounds with the Royal Family, Harry told the BBC in California that he wants ‘reconciliation’ with the royal family but was at present cut off from his father.
In an emotional interview with the BBC in California , Prince Harry said he has been cut off from his father and doesn’t know how long the King had left to live
The Duke of Sussex at the Royal Courts of Justice on April 8 during his appeal against a High Court ruling preventing him getting automatic taxpayer-funded police protection in the UK
The Duke of Sussex returned to London for the appeal
‘He won’t speak to me because of this security stuff,’ the prince said, adding he didn’t know how long the King had left to live.
‘There have been so many disagreements between myself and some of my family,’ he said, but he had now ‘forgiven’ them.
Saying that he felt ‘let down’ and looking upset, he described his court defeat as a ‘good old-fashioned establishment stitch up’ and blamed the Royal Household for influencing the decision to reduce his security.
Asked whether he had asked his father the King to intervene in the dispute over security, Prince Harry said: ‘I never asked him to intervene – I asked him to step out of the way and let the experts do their jobs.
‘The Ravec committee is an expert committee full of professionals plus the royals.’
He added: ‘Five years later, every single visit that I do back to the UK has to go through the royal household.
‘My representative on the Ravec committee still to this day is the royal household.
‘That’s not a decision that I choose. I am forced to go through the royal household and accept that they are putting my best interests forward during these conversations and deliberations.
‘So no, I haven’t asked my father to intervene.’
When asked by the BBC what about his current security arrangements made him feel unsafe, the Duke of Sussex replied: ‘Everything.’
He continued: ‘I would not have taken this this far if I did not have compelling evidence of facts that reveal why the decision was made and I am sitting here today talking to you, where we have lost the appeal, but the other side have won in keeping me unsafe, so again there is a lot of question marks that a lot of people will have.
‘I have all of the truth, I have all of the knowledge now, throughout the legal process.
‘I have uncovered my worst fears, and to now know today based on this judgment that there was no legal framework that constrains the decisions of this body Ravec, on which the royal household sit on, and I didn’t know that until this legal process in 2021, one of the first things my lawyer said to me as disclosure started, as this process started, was ‘did you know that the royal household sat on Ravec?’, and my jaw hit the floor.’
Sir Geoffrey Vos, Master of the Rolls, pictured today as he rejected Harry’s appeal
The Duke of Sussex’s appeal against the dismissal of his legal challenge over the level of protection he and his family (pictured together at Christmas) is about his family’s right to security and safety, the court heard
Well, for a start he only time I have come back to the UK is sadly for funerals or court cases, and with the odd charitable function where I can inbetween that, and I put myself at risk for that, but I will continue on with a life of public service, and I will always support the charities and the people who mean so much to me.
I can’t see a world in which I will be bringing my wife and children back to the UK at this point and the things they are going to miss is everything. I love my country and always have done. Despite what some people in that country have done. So I miss the UK. I miss parts of the UK. Of course I do. I think it’s really quite sad that I won’t be able to show my children my homeland.
It comes as Harry today sensationally lost his battle for taxpayer-funded armed police bodyguards when in the UK – putting him on the hook for £1.5million in costs.
The Duke of Sussex has been told that his ‘grievance’ over downgraded security had not ‘translated into a legal argument’ to successfully challenge the decision.
Harry believes he has been ‘singled out’ and ‘badly treated’ for ‘unjustified, inferior treatment’ since Megxit five years ago.
His barrister argued that the removal of Met Police armed bodyguards when he is in the UK has left the royal’s life ‘at stake’.
The California-based royal had fought the dismissal of his High Court claim against the Home Office over the decision of the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec) that he should receive a different degree of protection when in the country.
But Sir Geoffrey Vos, Master of the Rolls said in his ruling this afternoon in London that Ravec’s decision ‘were taken as an understandable, and perhaps predictable, reaction to the claimant having stepped back from royal duties and having left the UK to live principally overseas’.
‘These were powerful and moving arguments and that it was plain the Duke of Sussex felt badly treated by the system’, he said.
‘But I concluded, having studied the detail, I could not say that the Duke’s sense of grievance translated into a legal argument to challenge RAVEC’s decision’.
Sir Geoffrey said Harry ‘makes the mistake of confusing superficial analogies’ when comparing himself with other VIPs which had ‘added nothing’ to the legal question.
He added: ‘My conclusion was that the Duke of Sussex’s appeal would be dismissed’.
It means that for now, armed police bodyguards, paid for by the British taxpayer, will not be automatically reinstated for him, Meghan, Archie and Lilibet when they are in the UK. It raises more questions over whether the Sussexes will visit Britain again.
The King and his youngest son are believed to have differing views over Harry’s decision to pursue his legal fight with the Home Office. The Home Secretary is calling for the duke to pay all costs for both sides – a bill approaching £1.5million.
This is a breaking news story – more to follow
