Duke of Sussex security to be reviewed

[bluegreygreen]

The Duke of Sussex lost his argument in the Court of Appeal in May for automatic taxpayer security: the current arrangement is that his security needs are assessed on a case-by-case basis provided he gives notice.

He has recently been in touch with the new Home Secretary, and the latest update is that RAVEC has asked its Risk Management Board (RMB) to reassess his threat level.

Telegraph archive link

That statement, grandiose and jarring at the time, is embarrassing now. It hints at philanthropy on a grand and global scale but six years on, we've had small-scale, mocked philanthropy; a bitchy biog; a couple of puny podcasts; an ever-overexcited TV show; several snarky magazine features and that's about it.

H was a grown man well over the age of 30 with a wife and child at the time he left. It was his job to understand the security implications of leaving before he left.

I would take H's security concerns more seriously if he had bothered to submit his offer to pay for security in writing at the time he temper-tantrumed off to the Canada (before his "freedom flight" to Tyler Perry's California mansion).

If his family's security was so vital, H would have submitted any necessary documentation himself and followed it up himself.

I wonder if minutes/contemporaneous notes were taken at the Sandringham Summit? The courtiers would make sure this was done, surely?

Possibly?
we do know thanks to Harry’s book that there was printed documents of each of his choices! ( let’s not forget his anger over printer ink! 😬)

The lawsuit against a newspaper brought out the fact that H did not offer to pay for security in writing at the time he left.

"the Claimant was responsible for public statements, issued on his behalf, which claimed that he was willing to pay for police protection in the UK, and that his legal challenge was to the Government’s refusal to permit him to do so, whereas the true position, as revealed in documents filed in the legal proceedings, was that he had only made the offer to pay AFTER the proceedings had commenced; and"

Duke of Sussex-v-ANL judgment

H claims that in reality there was only one actual option and that it was a fait accompli. Even better than notes would be to have been a fly on the wall. It sounds as though there was a lot of shouting on the part ofthe two brothers.

Allegedly. As their much respected Grandmother was there, I cannot envisage much shouting taking place .
Whether it’s fair or not I tend to take everything that Harry says with a large pinch of salt!!

Yes, and I believe that's what the Mail commented on My2cents1975?
I'm paraphraising here, but something to the effect of "he only did it to try to look good", and Harry later withdrew his case for libel ... at least I think that's what it was; he sues so many they tend to get muddled up

H claims that in reality there was only one actual option and that it was a fait accompli. Even better than notes would be to have been a fly on the wall

Edited to add that if they had any sense they'll probably have recorded it, @IdaGlossop ...

We only have H's version of events.

Given that H is an unreliable narrator of fact (e.g. He was in Switzerland skiing with his father and brother when the news of the Queen Mother's death arrived and not by himself at Eton via a phone call), I would generally take anything that H claims with a mountain of salt.

whether they were IPP or not, they thought they were as their initial “see ya” statement made reference to being IPPs

I can't see how they could have been.

They were 'working royals' on a similar level as Sophie and Edward now. They don't even get full time security in Britain, so it would be very odd if they qualified for armed security in every other country!

Also, didn't they remove the IPP reference from their 'manifesto' pretty quickly?

I think the Queen put up with quite a lot of shouting one way or another.

Incidentally, the reason a member of the royal household sits on RAVEC is to give information about upcoming royal tours etc and the resultant need for security. They provide information about what working royals have coming up, others provide intelligence briefings about threat levels, active threats etc and the Committee makes decisions based on that information.

Any member of the public can receive protection if the threat is deemed high enough, Salman Rushdie famously received protection after he released the Satanic Verses. The King and the Wales family don't receive IPP protection because of their family relationships but rather because of their political significance. Harry has no political significance, he doesn't represent the King, like Anne or Edward, so he can't receive security on either score, hence the bespoke arrangement.

Only Harry would complain about his unique situation being treated uniquely. If there was a high threat level he will be given the necessary security, as any member of the public would. What he can't have is security based on who his father is or his own fears.

My theory is that Harry doesn't understand the meaning of the word 'bespoke '.

It's a good a reason as any other that's been suggested. I've never understood why receiving special arrangements is a problem for him.

I bet that he will receive armed protection for Invictus and he will claim it as a victory rather than realising that the threat level would go up for such a high profile event.

Yes, exactly.

For most people, the safety of their family is their number one concern. And Archie was only a baby at the time. Why the mad rush to jet off to another continent, where you had no job, no home, no status and no security? It's not like war had broken out in Windsor!

If they wanted to 'step back' from their role, fine. But what was stopping them from withdrawing from public life but staying on quietly in Frogmore, with their security set up still in place, while planning their new life? Of course in the event the pandemic put a spanner in the works, but they didn't know that at the time.

Harry had been told explicitly that his security arrangements would change once he was no longer a working royal but chose to flounce off anyway. That's on him.

I bet Meghan was putting emotional pressure on him to leave and he was too weak to resist and to stupid to think things through.

Harry said he assured Meghan they wouldn’t lose their security and admitted that he was shocked to be cut off financially which leads me to believe he thought he could just swan off and live the same life in a different country.

That makes sense. It never occurred to him that his circumstances would change by leaving the UK.

In the same way he said his lawyers had never told him he could lose his legal case against the Home Office.

I don't believe his lawyers didn't tell him. I'm not sure I believe that no-one else sat him down and explained the consequences of leaving either. Whether or not he wanted to believe it is another matter.

The latest issue of this kind is whether he has heard, understood and digested the message from the judge in the Daily Mail case about the £35m costs the litigants will be liable for if they lose the case - the case in which a key witness has said on public record that the written evidence about phone tapping and blagging on which the case rests is fabricated. David Sherborne must have made many trips to the bank laughing until the seams on his smart suit rip asunder.

@bluegreygreen "In the same way he said his lawyers had never told him he could lose his legal case against the Home Office."

👏👏

I do not believe for a moment Harry's legal team did not tell him he was on a slippery wicket here & it could go against him. Now , if he chose to go ahead , his barrister , legal team would have done their best , as they should. But it absolutely wouldn't surprise me if he was told this and either forgot or chose to forget.

I'd love to hear Shaheed Fatima's side of this ( I think she was H's KC apologies if wrong ) . Now obviously she will never tell , but I'd believe her over H any time . I reckon she is not hard of thinking. 😉

@IdaGlossop " David Sherborne must have made many trips to the bank laughing until the seams on his smart suit rip asunder." 😂- A well dressed Liberace mayhap 😂

Honestly I think Harry is preternaturally inclined to pursue the press etc like a rat up a drainpipe. He may have some legitimate gripes, and obviously has had settlements along the way so , fair play to him but , to me it's looking a bit weird now. & Only the British Press. He does not seem to have the same view of US press. Whether that is a hangover from his view of his mother , don't know.

Liberace! You're right: David Sherborne KC needs more sparkle, big shoulder pads. Liven up that dull court room.

@IdaGlossop I'm showing my age but I do remember Liberace saying he laughed all the way to the bank. - So just for you Ida - not his most flamboyant but perhaps the nearest he has for courtroom dress ,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberace#/media/File:Liberace_8_Allan_Warren.jpg 😂💐

IMHO, H is restrained from suing US press because broad first amendment protections around free speech make suing media in the US far harder than in the UK.

Moreover, potential US defendants would not treat H with any deference. After the New York car "chase" fiasco, when H&M's lawyers sent a threatening letter to Backgrid paps, Backgrid's lawyers fired back with a letter including the memorable line "We stand by our founding fathers." And H&M immediately backed down.

Photo agency rejects Prince Harry and Meghan’s ‘royal prerogative’ demand for photos

Actually, Sherborne is not a KC, as might be expected for someone with his experience.

Apparantly, his reputation as a 'showman' has made him rather unpopular with his peers.