Prince Harry Has Done 'Anything He Could' To Make Headlines Amid Claim He Wanted Privacy: Baroness

A member of the British nobility criticized Prince Harry after he lost his legal bid to personally pay for police protection while in the U.K.

While weighing in on Prince Harry's recent loss in London's High Court, Baroness Kate Hoey, a Northern Irish politician and life peer who served as parliamentary under-secretary for Home Affairs from 1998 to 1999 and minister for sport from 1999 to 2001, claimed that the Duke of Sussex appears to have done "anything he could" to make headlines despite allegedly wanting privacy.

"For someone who supposedly wanted privacy to build up his family and that's why he was leaving the United Kingdom, he has done practically anything he could to get into the front pages. So, I fully understand why he's lost that case," Baroness Hoey told host Mike Graham on his TalkTV program.

"I mean, why should our hard-working police officers in London, where we have so few yet need so many, be taken off and paid privately to look after him?" she added.

The baroness argued that Prince Harry should be a working royal to enjoy the privilege of being protected by police officers. The Duke of Sussex lost his taxpayer-funded police protection when he and his wife Meghan Markle stepped back from royal duties in 2020.

"He's either part of the royal family, in which case he would [get] all of that, or he's not. He just decided that he wants to have his private life, make his own money, be independent [and] still keep his royal title," she said.

Baroness Hoey went on to say that she was no longer a "fan" of Prince Harry and was "sad" about the decisions he has made in recent years.

"I'm sad because I was very keen on Harry," she continued. "I thought he had changed from being quite a difficult young man ... who became very, very involved in such good work with veterans and the sports organization that he set up for disabled service men and women."

When Prince Harry and Markle announced their exit from the royal family three years ago, royal fans and commentators speculated that they wanted privacy due to the unwanted media attention they received. The couple has since launched a number of cases against newspapers and publishers over alleged breaches of privacy.

The Sussexes faced backlash in December 2022 after dropping "Harry & Meghan," with many social media users and royal pundits slamming them for opening up their doors for a docuseries while calling out the media for intruding on their privacy.

At the time, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's global secretary Ashley Hansen released a statement clarifying the issue of privacy.

"The Duke and Duchess have never cited privacy as the reason for stepping back. This distorted narrative was intended to trap the couple into silence," Hansen said in a statement obtained by the BBC.

The spokesperson added, "In fact, their statement announcing their decision to step back mentions nothing of privacy and reiterates their desire to continue their roles and public duties. Any suggestion otherwise speaks to a key point of this series. They are choosing to share their story, on their terms, and yet the tabloid media has created an entirely untrue narrative that permeates press coverage and public opinion. The facts are right in front of them."

On Tuesday, a U.K. judge denied Prince Harry permission to seek a judicial review of the U.K. government's rejection of his offer to pay for his own police protection while in his home country.

A separate legal effort to review the original decision to strip Prince Harry of taxpayer-funded protection is ongoing.