The Duke of Sussex will have to pay a bill of around £1million after being ordered to pay 90% of the Home Office’s legal costs having lost a challenge to the level of his security

Prince Harry faces a bill of around £1million after being told to reimburse taxpayers having lost a battle with the Home Office for downgrading his security.

The Duke of Sussex has been ordered by the High Court to pay 90% of the Home Office’s legal costs of defending his challenge over changing his level of police protection when he visits the UK. He took legal action against the Home Office over the February 2020 decision of the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec) that he should receive a different degree of taxpayer-funded protection when in the country.

Ravec’s decision came as a result of a change in the duke’s “status” after he stopped being a “full-time working member of the royal family ”, a judge was told. In a judgement in February, retired High Court judge Sir Peter Lane rejected the Duke’s case and concluded Ravec’s approach was not irrational nor procedurally unfair.

Following the previous ruling, a spokesperson for the Duke said he intended to challenge the judgement, adding that Harry “hopes he will obtain justice from the Court of Appeal”. But on Monday a judicial spokesperson said that Harry has lost his initial bid to appeal against the decision.

In the initial decision to refuse the Duke the go-ahead to appeal, Sir Peter said Harry’s appeal bid was “largely a recapitulation of the case advanced by the claimant at trial”. He continued: “The reality of the matter is that the claimant considers he should receive a different approach to his protection whilst in the UK than Ravec decided he should, based in part on his comparison of his own position with that of others. Ravec, as an expert body, concluded otherwise. It was entitled to do so.”

However, the Duke is still able to ask the Court of Appeal directly for the green light to bring an appeal. And in an order published on Monday, Sir Peter said that Harry should pay 90% of the Home Office’s legal costs, but said the government department had committed “breaches” during the legal battle which were “sanctionable”.

He continued: “They have resulted in the case being largely contested by reference to new grounds, which have not been subjected to the normal permission process. The breaches resulted from misapprehensions on the part of the defendant as to the duty of disclosure, which this decision has had to address at some length. It is, therefore, right that there should be a modest but still significant reduction in the award of costs to the defendant.”

The exact sum that Harry has to pay was not specified but figures from a Freedom of Information request revealed that the government had spent £514,128. This included more than £180,000 on barristers, £320,000 on solicitors at the Government Legal Department, and £2,300 in court fees, while Harry is thought to have spent a similar amount on his own legal costs.