• Ken Wharfe, a former police protection officer, said it was “unwise” for Prince Harry to go to court.
• He said that he made a ‘mistake’ by going to court over protecting himself and his family.
• The High Court is hearing the case against the Home Office and Metropolitan Police.

Prince Harry recently won the right to go to court to challenge a decision by the government that kept police from protecting him while he was in Britain.

But Ken Wharfe, a former police protection officer who worked with Harry, his late mother Princess Diana, and his brother Prince William, said it was “unwise” to go to court because he and his family would have never been left without protection while visiting the UK.

He said that Prince Harry made a “mistake” by “overplaying his hand.”

Last week, Prince Harry sued the government again because it won’t let him pay for police protection for himself and his family when they visit North America after he leaves the Firm in 2020.

Harry’s complaint against the Home Office, which also names the Metropolitan Police, is about a decision that took away his right to pay for Scotland Yard officers with access to national intelligence to protect the Sussexes when they are in the UK.

The case comes after he made a similar complaint to the Home Office about how they took away his automatic police protection. The High Court is going to do a judicial review of that case.

But Mr. Wharfe said that it was “not a good idea.”

He told the Pod Save the Queen podcast from the Mirror: “I don’t know whom he advised him to take legal action against the British Government and the Metropolitan Police. I think it was an unwise thing to do because that, in essence, raises negative publicity.”

When Harry stopped being a senior royal, he lost the right to protection paid for by the government. He was also told that he couldn’t pay armed police on his own to give him the same level of protection as the rest of the Royal Family when he visited the UK.

Since then, the couple has used a private security team in the US to keep them safe. However, the couple’s lawyers say that this team does not have enough power overseas or access to UK intelligence information to keep the Sussex family safe.

Mr Wharfe added: “But I think the Government and the Metropolitan Police would have seen it would have been wrong to see this man, a global icon and celebrity in his own right, step onshore in the United Kingdom without any protection whatsoever.

“So that was never the case that the Government and the police wouldn’t have provided a liaison to guarantee his safety and that of his wife and children.

“My own view is that Harry rather overplayed that and that was a mistake on his part.”

He told Harry that the government and police would not give in, and he would have to try “a little bit harder” to understand that they are trying to help him.

He also said, “I personally think it won’t rumble on and it will stabilise – and I think he will realise if he does come back that of course there will be protection there.

“The country does have a responsibility to make sure that he is safe.

“But I don’t see the government or the police for that matter caving in on it.

“I think Harry will have to work a little bit harder and understand that the government and the police are here to help him and they will do so.”

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