Prince Harry has been criticised for a new lawsuit against the UK government over police protection when he comes home. 

Dai Davies, former head of royal protection at Scotland Yard, branded the latest legal action ‘nonsensical’ and ‘insulting’.

The ex-chief superintendent said: ‘For a man who allegedly wants to protect his privacy he goes about a funny way of achieving it. I believe this is personal.

‘Rather than seek a workable solution, he has taken this route which is fraught with issues. It’s insulting.’

Davies hit out after it emerged it has already cost the British taxpayer almost £100,000 to defend the Duke of Sussex’s security motion, while Harry and his wife have signed deals with Netflix and Spotify worth £100million.

The 37-year-old is already suing the Home Office over its decision in 2020 to remove his taxpayer-funded protection, which he says makes it unsafe for him to come to Britain with his wife Meghan Markle and their two children, Archie, three, and Lilibet, one.

A spokesperson for the Judicial Office said: ‘It is at an early stage, no hearings have been listed yet and no decisions have been made.’

Harry’s new case – which also names the Metropolitan Police – will focus on a conclusion in January by the Royalty and VIP Executive Committee (RAVEC) that private individuals should not be allowed to fund police protection. 

The revelation of a second court case comes as Meghan turned 41 on Thursday and threatens to heighten the couple’s existing tensions with the Royal Family – due to claims the Queen’s Private Secretary, Sir Edward Young, was involved in the move to deny Harry bodyguards. 

Harry has been taking legal action after being told he would no longer be granted the ‘same degree’ of personal protective security when visiting from his home in America, where he lives in an £11million mansion in Montecito, California.

The ex-soldier’s representatives have told how he wants to bring his family to visit from the US but said they are ‘unable to return to his home’ as it is too dangerous.

California police records revealed officers were twice called to Harry and Meghan’s mansion in May after reports of intruders.

The case is understood to have cost the Home Office exactly £90,094.79 from September 2021 and May earlier this year – a sum that includes £55,254 on the government’s legal department, as well as £34,824 on counsel and £16.55
on couriers.

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