Sunrise's Kochie stands up for Prince Harry in police legal row: 'Reasonable'

Prince Harry is facing backlash after challenging a decision that he should not receive police protection when on British soil, even if he covers the cost himself.

The Queen's grandson, and his wife Meghan quit royal duties in 2020 to forge new careers in Los Angeles. Subsequently the couple have relied upon a private security team.

However, his legal representatives said that these arrangements did not give the prince the level of protection he needed while visiting Britain.

"In the absence of such protection, Prince Harry and his family are unable to return to his home," a statement said. It cited an incident in July 2021 where they said his security had been compromised whilst leaving a charity event due to the lack of police protection.

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In an interview on Sunrise, royal expert Rob Jobson said: “Scotland Yard isn’t for sale. You can’t just go and buy a load of police officers. The fact is, they have to be allocated by the Commissioner of Police and you have to be seen as worthy of receiving it.

“When he decided to up sticks, move to California, his father warned him quite clearly he’d lose his protection and that’s what happened and he had to eventually fund it for himself.”

Rob claimed the best solution to this would be if Prince Harry went and hired some ex-royalty protection squad officers “like Prince Charles did for Camilla before they married”.

“I don’t quite know why he’s doing it but he’s just causing a little bit of a kerfuffle yet again,” Rob said.

Kochie said he thought Prince Harry was being “pretty reasonable” as any private security the royal would hire wouldn’t have access to British intelligence over possible threats.

“The fact is he’s left the fold. You can’t start accessing British intelligence just because he thinks it suits him. He’s given up being a working royal. The most he can expect is to go and hire some ex bodyguards.”

Rob went on to say he found the whole thing “over-the-top”.

Prince Harry's mother Princess Diana died in a 1997 car crash while trying to escape paparazzi photographers.

Harry sought a judicial review - a legal challenge to the lawfulness of decisions taken by a public body - in September 2021, a statement said. His lawyers said they had decided to make that information public due to a leak in the British press.

"The UK will always be Prince Harry's home and a country he wants his wife and children to be safe in," the statement said.

"With the lack of police protection comes too great a personal risk. Prince Harry hopes that his petition – after close to two years of pleas for security in the UK – will resolve this situation."

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