The Queen's private secretary, Sir Edward Young, and Prince Harry are said to have "significant tensions". Photo / Getty Images
The Queen's private secretary, Sir Edward Young, and Prince Harry are said to have "significant tensions". Photo / Getty Images
Prince Harry has suffered both a win and a blow in his legal battle against the UK Government.
The Duke of Sussex is engaged in a bitter court battle after the UK's Home Office made the decision to cut off his police protection when he is in the UK.
Thedecision came after the duke and duchess resigned from royal duties in 2020 and relocated to California in the United States.
A High Court judge this week made the call to re-examine the reasons the Home Office turned down the Duke's right to police protection, with The Sun reporting Justice Swift ruled the case could proceed but said, "The application for permission to apply for judicial review is allowed in part and refused in part."
He went on to say he agreed four of the five claims from the duke were "arguable" but ruled some parts of the grounds would be removed, and this will ultimately weaken parts of Harry's case.
One of the claims Judge Swift rejected was Harry's argument that he should have been told who the members of Ravec (Royal and VIP Executive Committee) were, so he would have the opportunity to comment on the "appropriateness" of the process.
Speaking on the point of tensions, Judge Swift said, "while the Claimant may have had disagreements with persons who were Ravec committee members, there was no evidence to support a claim that any committee member had approached decisions with a closed mind or that either decision was affected by bias".
Another blow came when Judge Swift ruled in Ravec's favour and said the duke's claim about specifically who should be protected is irrelevant.
Judge Swift ended the ruling by saying, "As all who are familiar with judicial review claims will know, a conclusion at the permission stage that a case is arguable is some distance from a conclusion that the case will succeed at final hearing."
Ravec's new security approach for the Duke came to light in June last year when Prince Harry was forced to bring his own private security with him when he visited the UK to unveil a statue of his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
By September, he had applied for a judicial review challenging the original February 2020 decision and the way it was applied last June.
