The Duke of Sussex has returned to court for the second day of his appeal over his security while in the UK.
Harry is challenging 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 taxpayer-funded protection when in the country.
After attending the first day of the case on Tuesday, the duke arrived at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London shortly before 10.10am on Wednesday.
The two-day appeal comes after retired High Court judge Sir Peter Lane ruled last year that Ravec’s decision, taken in early 2020 after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex quit as senior working royals, was lawful.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Shaheed Fatima KC, for the duke, said that Ravec came up with a “different and so-called ‘bespoke process’” for Harry.
She continued: “The appellant does not accept that ‘bespoke’ means ‘better’. In fact, in his submission, it means that he has been singled out for different, unjustified and inferior treatment.”
Ms Fatima told judges that the bespoke process involves Ravec considering why Harry would attend a particular event “even though that is plainly irrelevant to the question of security”.
The Home Office, which has legal responsibility for the committee’s decisions, is opposing the challenge, with its lawyers previously telling the London court the appeal “involves a continued failure to see the wood for the trees, advancing propositions available only by reading small parts of the evidence, and now the judgment, out of context and ignoring the totality of the picture”.
Sir James Eadie KC, for the department, said: “It’s important to emphasise that the decision was not that personal security of the kind previously provided would under no circumstances be provided.
“Rather it was simply that that security would not be provided on the same basis as before because of his (the duke’s) change of status and because he was now going to live abroad for the majority of his time.”
The hearing before Sir Geoffrey Vos, Lord Justice Bean, and Lord Justice Edis is due to conclude on Wednesday with a decision expected in writing at a later date.
