Prince Harry, 40, has voiced deep concern over the safety of his wife Meghan Markle, their two children, and himself when in the United Kingdom, following the rejection of his appeal to restore state-funded security.

On May 2, 2025, his legal efforts came to an end when Judge Sir Geoffrey Vos, along with two other judges, denied his request for a review of the decision to remove his police protection.

Harry’s security arrangements were downgraded in 2020 after he stepped back from his official royal duties. Since then, he has consistently warned of the risks he and his family face without formal protection while visiting the U.K.

He has drawn connections between those concerns and the tragic death of his mother, Princess Diana, who died in a car crash in Paris in 1997. At the time, Diana had opted out of royal police protection following her divorce from Prince Charles and was being chased by paparazzi while under private security.

Since the beginning of his relationship with Meghan, Harry has voiced fears that his family could fall victim to a similar fate. In the docuseries The Me You Can’t See, he opened up about those regrets.

“Do I have any regrets? Yeah. My biggest regret is not making more of a stance earlier on in my relationship with my wife and calling out the racism when I did,” he said.

Following the court’s decision, Prince Harry spoke to the BBC, expressing that he, Meghan, and their children — Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet — would not be adequately safeguarded in the U.K.

He also spoke candidly about the deeper family tensions behind the situation:

“At the heart of it, this is a family dispute, and it makes me really, really sad that we are sitting here today, five years later, where a decision was made – most likely, in fact, I know – to keep us under the roof,” he said.

He went on to say: