Prince Harry told to notify Home Office a month before any UK trip

Prince Harry had apparently been asked to give the U.K.'s Home Office 28 days' notice of his travel plans to the country so they can determine if his request for a security detail is necessary.

A report obtained by The Telegraph revealed that the Duke of Sussex pushed back against the request. In a statement, he replied, "I would like them to provide an example of where someone else has left 'public duty' with the same threat assessment as me, and received no security. I was born into this and the threat will never decrease because of my status regarding the family."

Prince Harry's legal team likewise argued that the 28-day notice to the Home Office could threaten his safety. Lawyers said it "hinders their ability to plan for and manage his security arrangements" and that it "may lead to [the Duke's] actual arrangements being inadequate and compromise his ultimate security."

The 38-year-old is in a legal battle with the Home Office over its decision not to allow him to personally fund his and his family's police protection while in the U.K. He first filed the suit with London's High Court which ruled that the case can proceed with a judicial review. An official from the Judicial Office said about the suit, "It is at an early stage, no hearings have been listed yet and no decisions have been made."

Prince Harry reasoned that he fears for his family's safety whenever they visit his home country. The duke and his legal team have explained that his US-based security detail does not have sufficient jurisdiction in Britain. His legal advisers argued that he is "gravely concerned about his safety and security during future trips to the UK" and felt that the only option was to take legal action "given the gravity of what is at stake for him and his family."

"The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been subject to intense media scrutiny, hostile social media attention, and targeting by violent extremists due to (amongst other things) the [Duke's] ten years of military service in the British Army. The Duchess of Sussex's race and their involvement in charitable and other social justice initiatives," his legal team said.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle lost their tax-payer-funded police protection when they left their royal duties in 2020. Their Netflix docuseries "Harry & Meghan" showed that they were without their security detail when they lived in Canada and were hounded by the paparazzi. They had to get out of the country fast before borders closed due to COVID-19 and had Tyler Perry to thank for jetting them out of Canada and letting them use his security detail and his Beverly Hills mansion for free.

As for their visits to the U.K., royal experts believe that they will receive state security or the same police protection given to senior royals whenever they visit for official royal events. These include the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June 2022, in which Queen Elizabeth II had them picked up by her security detail and driven to Frogmore Cottage. The same likely happened at Her Majesty's funeral in September 2022.

Prince Harry had valid reasons to worry about his family's safety in the U.K. In November last year, Anil Kanti "Neil" Basu, the former head of counter-terrorism for the Metropolitan Police in London, revealed that Meghan Markle received "disgusting and very real threats" in the country that mostly came from right-wing extremists.

He said, "If you'd seen the stuff that was written and you were receiving it — the kind of rhetoric that's online — if you don't know what I know, you would feel under threat all of the time." Basu shared they had teams investigating these threats and people "have been prosecuted for those threats." Meghan Markle and Prince Harry also spoke about these death threats in "Harry & Meghan." As for their next visit to the U.K., the couple has yet to confirm if they will attend King Charles III's coronation on May 6.