Prince Harry has lost his initial bid to appeal the High Court to have police security when he and his wife and two children visit the United Kingdom.
The news comes less than two months after the 39-year-old lost his original legal battle in February.
WATCH NOW: Prince Harry arrives at High Court in London.
At the time, High Court judge Peter Lane upheld the decision to downgrade Prince Harry’s security – a decision made in 2020 by the U.K. government and the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (RAVEC).
“The court has found that there has not been any unlawfulness in reaching the decision of 28 February 2020,” said Lane on February 28th, as per PEOPLE, adding that the “decision was not irrational” nor “marred by procedural unfairness”.
Lane continued: “The court has also found that there has been no unlawfulness on the part of RAVEC in respect of its arrangements for certain of the claimant’s visits to Great Britain.”
In response to this, a legal spokesman for the prince said that the duke was “not asking for preferential treatment, but for a fair and lawful application of RAVEC’s own rules.”
After Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped back as senior royals in 2020, U.K. authorities stripped away his right to certain security measures.
The Duke of Sussex then argued that he and his family were entitled to automatic protection when travelling from their Californian home to the U.K.
A legal spokesperson told PEOPLE that the 39-year-old was not seeking “preferential treatment”, merely the “same consideration as others”.
“The Duke’s case is that the so-called ‘bespoke process’ that applies to him, is no substitute for that risk analysis,” the statement said, adding that Prince Harry hopes to obtain justice through the appeal, and will make no further comment while the case is ongoing.
In December 2023, the duke told the High Court he needed security to keep his family safe, particularly given his “experiences in life”.
“The U.K. is central to the heritage of my children and a place I want them to feel at home as much as where they live at the moment in the United States,” he said at the time
The father-of-two continued: “That cannot happen if there is no possibility to keep them safe when they are on U.K. soil.”
“I can’t put my wife in danger like that, and given my experiences in life, I’m reluctant to unnecessarily put myself in harm’s way too.”
The February court hearing also confirmed that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were “recklessly” pursued by paparazzi while in New York last year.
Judge Lane revealed that, after an investigation of the chase, local police found that paparazzi exhibited “persistently dangerous and unacceptable behaviour”.
It remains to be seen if Prince Harry will continue his legal case. He is however still able, and likely, to ask the Court of Appeal directly for the go-ahead to challenge High Court judge Peter Lane’s decision.
Earlier this year it was reported that the Sussex family would visit the UK to attend a church service that will be held at St Paul’s Cathedral to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games.
Archie and Lilibet have not returned to their ancestral homeland since their great-grandmother’s Diamond Jubilee in February 2022, while their mother has not returned since the Queen’s funeral in September of that same year.
Prince Harry last visited the UK on February 6th for a whirlwind visit after his father’s cancer diagnosis was made public.
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