A known stalker came within feet of Prince Harry on two separate occasions during his latest visit to the UK, it has been reported.
The woman, who is thought to be on a list of “fixated individuals” drawn up by private intelligence for the Duke’s personal protection team, is said to have entered a “secure zone” at a London hotel where he was attending awards on 9 September. The woman is believed to have previously followed him to Nigeria.
She was later “body blocked” by his private staff after being recognised just a few metres from him at the Centre for Blast Injury Studies in west London, according to a report in The Telegraph. There was no police presence at this event.
It comes after the Duke lost a legal challenge against the Home Office over his UK security arrangements in May of this year. The Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec) had previously decided he should receive a reduced degree of security protection when in the country following his decision to step down as a senior royal.
Prince Harry’s legal team had argued the decision put his “life at stake”, but a Court of Appeal judge said Ravec’s decision was “understandable and perhaps predictable”.
The incidents could now to be used as evidence that the Duke faces a severe threat to his safety while in the UK. He was last risk assessed in April 2019 and is pursuing an updated analysis after being provided with little to no police protection on his last visits.
In December 2023, he told a court in an earlier legal challenge: “It was with great sadness for both of us that my wife and I felt forced to step back from this role and leave the country in 2020.
“The UK is my home. The UK is central to the heritage of my children and a place I want them to feel at home as much as where they live at the moment in the US. That cannot happen if it’s not possible to keep them safe when they are on UK soil.
“I cannot put my wife in danger like that and, given my experiences in life, I am reluctant to unnecessarily put myself in harm’s way too.”
A friend close to the Duke told The Telegraph the lack of security accounts for part of the reason his visits to the UK are so infrequent, adding he felt “enormous guilt” that his high profile put others around him at risk.
The Metropolitan Police and the office of the Duke of Sussex have been contacted for comment.
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