LONDON: A lawyer for Prince Harry told a London court Friday that the UK "will always be his home", appealing a government refusal to provide the British royal with police protection even if he pays for it.
Harry and wife Meghan lost their UK taxpayer-paid protection when they quit frontline royal duties in 2020 and moved to California.
The Duke of Sussex, who was not in court on Friday, is seeking a judicial review after the interior ministry declined his request to pay himself for UK police protection.
The couple have their own private security team in the US but Harry says that they do not have adequate jurisdiction or access to UK intelligence necessary to keep his family safe.
"This claim is about the fact that the claimant does not feel safe when he is in the UK," Harry's lawyer Shaheed Fatima told the Royal Courts of Justice.
"It goes without saying that he does want to come back to see family and friends and to continue to support the charities that are so close to his heart.
"Most of all, this is and always will be, his home."
Last summer, Harry's car was chased by paparazzi photographers as he left a charity event in London.
The next day, he and elder brother William unveiled a statue of their late mother, Princess Diana.
She died in Paris in 1997 after a high-speed car chase also involving photographers, and Harry's relations with the UK media remain fraught.
Harry's bid for a review of the Home Office decision not to allow him police protection was filed in September, but permission for a full hearing has not yet been granted or denied. – AFP