He lost the legal challenge in May 2023, meaning that he will not be allowed to make private payments for police protection. In January 2022, it was reported that Harry had been in a legal fight since September 2021 over the Home Office’s refusal to allow him to pay for police protection. At the time of the announcement of Harry and Meghan’s decision to “step back” as senior members of the royal family in 2020, 95% of the couple’s income derived from the £2.3 million given to them annually by Harry’s father, Charles, as part of his income from the Duchy of Cornwall.

Repairing rift in the royal family

• Following negotiations with the palace, it was announced that Harry and Meghan would “no longer be working members of the Royal Family” and that they would not use their HRH titles.
• He adds in the memoir that he smoked cannabis at Eton and in the gardens Kensington Palace, though he later told a court that “he never smoked in his father’s house”.
• It was also revealed that during the proceedings Harry had leaked information via email to “a partner of Schillings” and to Johnny Mercer, for which he apologised to the court.
• His appeal was rejected by three senior judges in May 2025 and he was likely to be held liable for the UK government’s legal fees.
• He lost the legal challenge in May 2023, meaning that he will not be allowed to make private payments for police protection.

In March 2021, Harry and Meghan gave a widely publicised interview to Oprah Winfrey on Oprah with Meghan and Harry.
The Government of Canada announced RCMP security would not be provided after March 2020 when the couple’s status changed. On 3 November 2025, Harry’s office announced that he would travel to Toronto, Canada, for a series of events ahead of Remembrance Day. On 8 September 2022, while Harry and Meghan were in London preparing to attend a charity event, Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, and they remained in the United Kingdom for her funeral. The Sussexes visited the UK and Germany in September 2022 for a number of charity events in Manchester and Düsseldorf. Because infant son Archie travelled with the Sussexes, this was “their first official tour as a family”. Periodically, online QCT chat sessions were conducted and uploaded to YouTube for general public viewing.

Grievances and forgiveness were both on display in Prince Harry’s raw TV interview

It was also revealed that during the proceedings Harry had leaked information via email to “a partner of Schillings” and to Johnny Mercer, for which he apologised to the court. Despite his lawyers’ attempts to have him pay no more than 50% of the Home Office’s legal costs of defending his challenge, the judge held him liable for 90% of the costs. In June 2023, a Freedom of Information request revealed that Harry’s legal fight with the Home Office had cost £502,236, with £492,000 covered by the state and the remaining £10,000 covered by Harry. In February 2023, a High Court judge ruled that the second case should be thrown out; however, the decision was later appealed by Harry’s legal team. Harry filed a lawsuit against the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police in August 2022, challenging the decision by RAVEC from January 2022 which stated that State security could not be made available to private individuals even if they wished to pay for it themselves.

• In addition, there appeared to be growing tensions between the couple and other royals.
• The publisher agreed to cover Harry’s legal costs and pay damages reported to be in the region of £300,000.
• Chandauka reported the charity to the Charity Commission due to what she described as “poor governance, weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny, misogynoir – and the coverup that ensued”.
• In July 2018, the Elton John AIDS Foundation announced that the Duke of Sussex and British singer Elton John were about to launch a global coalition called MenStar that would focus “on treating HIV infections in men”.
• The announcement prompted generally positive commentary about having a mixed‑race person as a member of the royal family, particularly in Commonwealth countries with populations of blended or native ancestry.

Judge Carl Nichols ordered that redacted versions of the court documents be released by 18 March 2025. He stated that he had struggled with aggression, experienced anxiety during royal engagements, and had been “very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions”. He adds in the memoir that he smoked cannabis at Eton and in the gardens Kensington Palace, though he later told a court that “he never smoked in his father’s house”. In 2002, it was reported that, with Charles’s encouragement, Harry had visited a drug-rehabilitation unit to speak with recovering drug addicts after it emerged that he had been smoking cannabis and drinking at his father’s harry casino login Highgrove House and at a local pub in the summer of 2001.

Military ranks

Harry faced difficulties with obtaining and maintaining publicly funded security, both in Canada and the United Kingdom, after he and Meghan announced their self-demotion within the royal family. The prince appeared in court for the suit in June 2023 and ultimately testified for two days, describing how the disclosure of private information affected his mental health and his relationship with his then girlfriend, Chelsy Davy. The royal family spent most of the 20th century largely avoiding public litigation. On 18 January 2020, Buckingham Palace announced that, following their decision to step back from royal duties, from 31 March 2020 the Duke and Duchess would not use their Royal Highness styles in practice or publicly.
Prince Harry, duke of Sussex (born September 15, 1984, London, England) is the duke of Sussex and the younger son of Charles III and Diana, princess of Wales. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s involvement in Cookie Queens was first announced in December 2025, with the Sundance premiere marking their latest professional milestone. “By standing up here and taking a stand against them, this has continued to come after me,” Harry told the court, his voice cracking. The trial marks the last of a series of legal actions Harry has brought against British tabloids in recent years. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped out ahead of the premiere of their new documentary ‘Cookie Queens,’ days after Harry’s emotional court testimony in London

UK tabloids make unprecedented apology to Prince Harry as part of intrusion settlement, AP explains

Agnatically, Harry is a member of the House of Glücksburg, a cadet branch of the House of Oldenburg, one of Europe’s oldest royal houses. In July 2021, Harry and Meghan were among people who were selected by UK-based charity Population Matters to receive the Change Champions Award for their decision to have only two children and help with maintaining a smaller and more sustainable population. In December 2010, the German charity Ein Herz für Kinder (“A Heart for Children”) awarded him its Golden Heart Award, in recognition of his “charitable and humanitarian efforts”. Writing for The Guardian, Stephen Bates stated that Harry’s “megaphone diplomacy isn’t working” and “his private security needs are probably not near the top of anybody’s priorities”. In May 2025, Harry was interviewed by Nada Tawfik of the BBC, during which he reflected on his loss of taxpayer-funded security and his ongoing estrangement from his family. In a live-streamed interview with Harry in March 2023, physician Gabor Maté suggested publicly that he could be suffering from PTSD, ADD, anxiety, and depression based on his conversation with him and having read his autobiography Spare.

Prince Harry, duke of Sussex

Both brothers brought a claim privately through their mutual attorneys, but Harry decided to pursue his case separately with a new solicitor in 2019. Former News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman had previously stated that he had hacked Harry’s phone on nine occasions. In October 2019, it was announced that Harry had sued the Daily Mirror, The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World “in relation to alleged phone-hacking”. Ahead of the trial, ANL accused the claimants’ legal team of dishonesty, fraud and conspiracy, alleging a “camouflage scheme” to disguise when claimants became aware of potential claims; the judge ordered parts of the submissions to be amended. Harry withdrew the libel claim in January 2024 and became liable for the publisher’s £250,000 legal costs. The prince’s lawyer said the “substantial damages” paid by the publisher would be donated to the Invictus Games Foundation.

In March 2020, the couple took Splash UK to court after the Duchess and their son were photographed without permission during a “private family outing” while staying in Canada. His appearance marked the first time a member of the royal family had been cross-examined in court since Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, appeared as a witness in court in 1891. In his lawsuit, Harry sought damages in excess of £200,000 from the publisher of the News of the World and The Sun and alleged an earlier agreement between News Group Newspapers (NGN) and the royal family which would see he and William not take legal action in return for an apology had not been honoured. In January 2020, the Duke and Duchess announced that they were stepping back from their role as senior members of the royal family, and would balance their time between the United Kingdom and North America. On Wednesday, he returned to the courtroom to testify about the effects of the period in the 2000s when his private matters often became front-page news—much to Harry’s surprise. “It’s not a nice experience for anyone to find themselves in court,” a source close to the prince told the Times earlier this month.
However, in December 2007 Harry began serving a tour of duty in Afghanistan after the British media agreed to not publicize details of his service; his tour ended in February 2008 after foreign news outlets reported his deployment. Because of Princess Diana’s desire that Harry and his elder brother, Prince William, experience the world beyond royal privilege, she took them as boys on public transportation and to fast food restaurants and stood in line with them at Disney World. In 2018 Harry married Meghan Markle, and two years later the couple stopped being working members of the British royal family. On Jan. 21, Harry gave evidence earlier than scheduled and spoke with visible emotion about the toll the legal fight — and years of press scrutiny — has taken on his family. They are still referred to as “His/Her Royal Highness” in legal and private settings. Despite the palace congratulating the Duke and Duchess on the birth of their daughter Lilibet in June 2021, a few days later the BBC reported that Harry and Meghan had not sought the permission of the Queen before naming their daughter with her personal family nickname.
In January 2025, Harry and Meghan’s appearance at a food bank during the Southern California wildfires in the Pacific Palisades drew mixed reactions from segments of the media and public figures, who labeled it “disaster tourism”. It has been suggested by critics that this fall from public esteem is due to Harry and Meghan’s frequent attempts to achieve ongoing relevancy, and their perceived hypocrisy and selfishness. Writing for The New York Times, Sarah Lyall noted that following the release of his memoir Harry and his wife lost support within segments of the American public and press. However, his popularity fell after stepping back from royal duties, and it plummeted after the release of his controversial interview with Oprah Winfrey, his Netflix docuseries, and his memoir. After his marriage, Harry’s popularity skyrocketed above all the other royals as he was deemed likable by 77 per cent of respondents in a poll of 3,600 Britons conducted by statistics and polling company YouGov. In June 2022 and on their way to California after the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, Harry and Meghan boarded a private jet that was estimated to have emitted “ten times more carbon than flying commercial”.
In June 2019, it was announced that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would split from The Royal Foundation and establish their own charity foundation by the end of 2019. In October 2019, along with other members of the royal family, Harry voiced a Public Health England announcement, for the “Every Mind Matters” mental health program. Accusations of abuse by the charity surfaced publicly in 2022 and 2024, when reports claimed that rangers managed by African Parks had been torturing, beating, raping, and forcibly displacing members of the indigenous Baka community.