Prince Harry’s complicated relationship with Britain took center stage in 2025 following a major court defeat, a glimmer of light in his relationship with King Charles III and a surprise ruling by the government.
The Duke of Sussex ends the year eagerly anticipating the outcome of a new threat assessment that he has been requesting now for years.
Harry’s belief is that if he will be considered at risk from terrorists and far-right racists, and that he and his family may get their U.K. police protection team reinstated on trips to the country as a result.
Why It Matters
It all comes at a time when Britain has returned to being a key focus for Harry, following a high profile visit in September, a love letter to England in November, and a court case fast approaching in January.
Prince Harry Police Security Defeat
Harry was dealt a major blow in May when he lost a lawsuit he filed against the British government over the removal of his police protection team, a decision taken by the Home Office in 2020 when he quit the palace for a new life in America.
By the time 2025 came around, Harry had already lost two cases at the High Court in London, but had gone to the Court of Appeal hoping for a different outcome.
Harry’s legal team argued in court that he should have been given an additional threat assessment by a body called the Risk Management Board [RMB], and that the failure to give him one made the decision unlawful.
However, the court ruled the Home Office had every right to design a bespoke approach to Harry’s security, reviewing whether to give him protection on a case-by-case basis before each visit.
Harry, though, took a swipe at his father in the aftermath of the defeat, telling the BBC: “I’ve never asked him to intervene—I’ve asked him to step out of the way and let the experts do their job.”
“I can only come to the U.K. safely if I’m invited,” he added, “there is a lot of control and ability in my father’s hands.”
And that statement applied not only to Harry but to Meghan Markle and their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet too.
At that point in his year, Harry’s relationship with Britain—and indeed his father—appeared at rock bottom, but that would change over the course of the rest of the year.
Prince Harry Meets King Charles
Harry appeared to reevaluate his relationship with Britain after the court decision, hiring a U.K. based PR spokesman who met Charles’ official spokesman in person at a London private members club over the summer.
By September, Harry was on U.K. soil visiting charities he worked with during his time as a working royal and with all eyes on whether he would see his father.
And they did meet for tea at Clarence House in the most positive sign for the relationship in years. Their previous meeting had been in February 2024 after Charles was first diagnosed with cancer. It was brief, at around 45 minutes.
Harry’s spokesperson said in a statement to Newsweek at the end of his U.K. visit: “He’s obviously loved being back in the U.K, catching up with old friends, colleagues and just generally being able to support the incredible work of the causes that mean so much to him.”
A Love Letter to Britain
In November, Harry—a veteran who served two front-line tours during the Iraq War—marked remembrance and wrote an essay comparing Ukraine and Britain with the title: “The Bond, The Banter, The Bravery: What it means to be British.”
“There is a similar stoic spirit of self-deprecation and humor in Ukrainians, that I recognize more than any other, in us Brits,” Harry wrote.
“Though currently, I may live in the United States, Britain is, and always will be, the country I proudly served and fought for. The banter of the mess, the clubhouse, the pub, the stands, ridiculous as it sounds, these are the things that make us British. I make no apology for it. I love it.”
A Glimmer of Hope for Prince Harry
In December, The Sun revealed the RMB had begun conducting a new threat assessment for Harry—just like he had asked for in the very court case he lost that May.
The move raised eyebrows due to past sworn evidence given to the court by Sir Richard Mottram, who chaired RAVEC, a Home Office committee that made the decision to strip Harry of his police protection back in 2020.
Sir Richard had told the court that Harry’s RMB assessments had stopped simply because he left Britain and therefore had no regular U.K. life to assess.
His evidence was summarized in the Court of Appeal’s judgment in May, with the filing stating Sir Richard felt “it made much more sense to assess the threat and risk issues” from Harry’s U.K. visits “by reference to their particular context; rather than conduct [a risk analysis] for a principal who was no longer based in Great Britain and whose activities when he was present were not likely to be regular.”
The Home Office’s sudden about-turn sparked speculation in some quarters that improving relations with Charles might have been a factor, while a security expert said it could have been a response to the identification of a new threat.
Alex Bomberg, the chief executive of private security firm Intelligent Protection International, told Newsweek: “It probably is a change of circumstances. It would be a change in the risk profile, if there’s a sense of urgency to it.”
Meanwhile, Newsweek considered whether there was a possibility it might have been triggered by Harry indicating a greater commitment to spending time and working in Britain, creating more of a U.K. life for the RMB to assess.
One possible version is that it could relate to time Harry might spend in the U.K. in the New Year, when the trial in his phone-hacking lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday comes to court. The newspapers have vigorously denied the allegations and vowed to fight the case, in which Harry is expected to testify.
Either way, Britain was a key priority for Harry in 2025 to an extent not seen in past years. All eyes will be on whether there are more dramatic developments in 2026.
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