The Duke’s stalker sat just a few metres behind him in the public gallery, according to reports (Image: Getty)
A woman known to have stalked Prince Harry sat a few metres behind him on two occasions during his court case last week, according to reports. The Duke of Sussex was in court for the opening of his legal action against the publisher of the Daily Mail over allegations of unlawful information gathering and to give evidence in the case. On two of the four days he attended the High Court, he was flanked by a known stalker who is thought to be suffering from mental health issues, a source told The Telegraph.
The woman reportedly took a seat in the public gallery a short distance behind the prince, before being noticed by his security team who then alerted the court staff. “There is nothing they could do,” the source said. “They are not the police. It’s a public building, and she has a right to be there. He is obviously worried about his security situation; it’s not ideal.”
The ‘anxiety inducing’ incident comes as Prince Harry’s UK security threat is reassessed (Image: Getty)
The stalker previously followed Harry to Nigeria and also managed to sneak into a “secure zone” of a London hotel where he was attending an awards show last September, reports suggest.
She was once again spotted close to him just days later at the Centre for Blast Injury Studies in west London, and is said to be on a list of fixated individuals drawn up by a private intelligence company.
It comes after the Home Office ordered a review of the duke’s security arrangements while in the UK following his failed attempt to secure continued taxpayer-funded protection while living overseas.
Harry wrote to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood shortly after her appointment last year and submitted a formal request for a risk assessment to the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (RAVEC).
The Court of Appeal previously dismissed his challenge to RAVEC’s decision to provide him with a different degree of security on trips back from the US, which he said made it “impossible” to bring his wife Meghan and their two children, Archie and Lilibet, to the UK safely.
A decision based on a new assessment of his threat level is expected to be made within the next few weeks.
Neil Basi, former head of the UK’s Counter Terrorism Unit, who held different positions at RAVEC between 2018 and 2021, said having a stalker constantly tailing you “must be incredibly anxiety-inducing”.
“There are clearly people with fixations, and you can never fully know where that fixation will lead until you’ve assessed that person’s state of mind,” he said. “It might be declarations of undying love, and sending roses, or it might be wanting to cause harm.
“If someone keeps appearing in front of you… Imagine if you were a normal member of the public, you’d be absolutely terrified.”
Speaking of the decision to carry out a threat assessment, the first for Prince Harry since 2019, he added that it was “the right thing to do”.
“I cannot see a situation in which his threat and risk have reduced in the intervening time when he’s been in the UK,” Mr Basi said. “As one of the most recognisable men on the planet, his threat and risk will be, in my view, the same as it was in 2019. It may even have increased because of the publicity around him.”