Prince Harry says he is devastated after losing his appeal to reinstate full police protection when visiting the UK and will write to the British government to request an urgent examination on the matter.
Harry's statement comes a day after the BBC broadcast an interview with the royal where he said he wanted "reconciliation" with the royal family but admitted his father King Charles wouldn't speak to him due to the legal battle over his security protection.
In a statement published on the Sussex Royal website, Harry said he feared for his and his immediate family's safety due to his military-related experience.
"In recent years my family and I have been subjected to well-documented neo-Nazi and extremist threats, including from Al-Qaeda," Harry said in a statement.
"My decade of military service, particularly two tours of duty in Afghanistan, as well as social and tabloid media frenzy, have only intensified those threats."
Harry argued that his security should never have been removed in the first place.
"The stark difference is I was born into lifelong circumstances that create inherent security threats," he said.
The main issue raised by the appeal was the dismissal of the duke of Sussex's claim that he should retain his full British security when he visits his homeland, instead of the current security arrangement.
Harry said he offered to pay for the costs of "necessary and effective" police protection to keep him and his family safe, but got rejected.
Royal commentator Juliet Rieden said Britain's Metropolitan Police and the Home Office declined Prince Harry's request to personally pay for security for those private visits, not the royal household nor the king.
"The current bespoke arrangement is that when they are at royal events or staying at royal residences, they have royal police protection, but not when they are visiting the UK for personal reasons," Ms Rieden told the ABC.
"As one source explained, the taxpayer-funded British police are not guns for hire."
In 2023, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement: "To allow an individual to pay for protective security would create a precedent in which other wealthy individuals could argue that they too should be permitted to pay for such services".
The duke stepped back from his senior royal duties and moved to Canada in 2020 with his young family, and later to California.
During the appeal, Harry's leading counsel, Shaheed Fatima KC, argued that the duke had been "singled out" for "inferior treatment" as compared to all others protected by the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (RAVEC).
In a judgement summary published by the UK Courts and Tribunals Judiciary, the court defended the decision of Sir Richard Mottram, then chair of RAVEC, stripping publicly-funded protection from Harry and Meghan.
"The judge decided that RAVEC, in taking its decision to withdraw the duke’s security, had good reason not to follow its 2017 policy," the summary read.
"The judge also decided that the duke of Sussex was not in an analogous position to certain other VIPs for whom protection is provided by RAVEC."
The 2017 policy allows the committee to evaluate a risk analysis conducted by its own Risk Management Board to determine which individuals should receive protection.
The UK will always be part of who I am: Harry
The duke said he wanted to continue his charitable work in supporting the causes and people that were important to him, and for his children to know the beauty of his homeland.
"The UK is my birthplace and will always be part of who I am," the royal said in a statement.
"It is a place I love, and the country where my son was born.
Harry also said he was committed to a life of public service.
"This has been and will always be my life's work, and when you strip away the noise, you'll be able to hear, all I've been asking for is safety."
