Prince Harry tried to keep small print of his felony fighting to reinstate his police protection secret from the public.
High Court files show he sought a far-reaching confidentiality order on files and witness statements surrounding his case in opposition to the Government.
But the Home Office argued for transparency, saying 'there ought to be a sufficiently right reason, in the wider public interest, to justify the departure from open justice that such an order involves'.
Both facets then agreed that some papers would be made public with the Home Office agreeing to raise out a 'confidentiality exercise' to decide what would be stored secret, even though it brought on 'an unprecedented expenditure of time and resources'.
When The Mail on Sunday remaining month printed that Harry used to be suing the Government, his spin-doctors swung into action, briefing journalists that Harry was once being denied the right to pay for bodyguards.
It led to inaccurate reports across the media, such as the BBC headline: 'Prince Harry in criminal combat to pay for UK police protection.'
As archives lodged at the High Court ultimate week show, no such provide to pay used to be made in the Prince's initial 'pre-action' letters to the Home Office, suggesting he predicted British taxpayers to cover it.
The revelations are a crushing rebuttal to Harry's initial public announcement that implied he had constantly been willing to foot the bill.
Nor did he provide to pay when he visited the UK remaining June to unveil a statue to his mother, Princess Diana.
Home Office legal professionals state that it was once solely in later correspondence that the provide was made.
That led to fury closing night that aides acting for Harry sought to confuse the mainstream media's response to the story, ironic given the Prince now has a position with a Silicon Valley firm tackling 'misinformation' online.
As royal writer David McClure, tweeted: 'Once greater confusion about the accuracy of messages coming out of the Sussex camp. First Harry affords to pay, then when he visits the UK, he does not.'
The Duke launched his declare in September, extra than 18 months after the Government's RAVEC (Royal and VIP Executive Committee) determined he would be stripped of his full state-funded security.
But courtroom papers disclose that Harry still continues 'exceptional status', which potential he ought to be afforded safety depending on the nature of his visits, assessed on a 'case-by-case basis'.
Harry argues that 'while his function within the group has changed, his profile as a member of the Royal Family has not. Nor has the threat to him and his family.'
Yet his preliminary bid to get the decision overturned did now not mention he would pay anything. Court papers say: 'The offer [to pay] is now superior in the Claimant's witness statement...but particularly was once no longer superior to RAVEC in June 2021 or in any of the pre-action correspondence which followed.'
It adds that Harry's latest provide to pay is nonetheless 'irrelevant' because 'personal defensive security via the police is no longer reachable on a privately financed basis, and RAVEC does now not make decisions...on the groundwork that any economic contribution could be sought or acquired to pay for it'.
When The Mail on Sunday first broke the story, lawyers and PR advisers acting for the Sussexes sought to put their own gloss on it.
Tags: The Queen, Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, Prince William, Prince Charles
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