Prince Harry has accused a senior British security chief of failing to alert him to an active Al-Qaeda assassination threat targeting his life. According to the Duke of Sussex, his security detail only learned of the terror plot through the American FBI—not from UK authorities.
2+According to a report published by The Sunday Times, Harry’s legal team formally petitioned UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood this month, urging her personal intervention in a comprehensive review of his and his family’s protection protocols. The legal letter alleges that the chairman of RAVEC—the government committee overseeing the protection of royalty and public figures—was aware of credible intelligence regarding the plot as early as 2023, but withheld the critical data from Harry and his personal security detail.
The report noted that British officials also failed to notify U.S. authorities directly, despite the Duke residing in California at the time. Later that year, the FBI independently alerted the Prince’s security team after intercepting an Al-Qaeda document explicitly outlining plans to assassinate him. The terror threat is linked in part to Harry’s military service in Afghanistan, where he completed two operational deployments with the British Army. In recent years, Harry has repeatedly asserted that his military record makes him and his family primary targets for extremist and terror organizations.
2+The revelation emerges as the fierce debate surrounding the Prince’s security arrangements intensifies. Since stepping back from official royal duties in 2020, Harry was stripped of full, automatic state-funded police protection. The Duke has pursued ongoing legal challenges in British courts, arguing that without adequate security, the safety of his family cannot be ensured during visits to the United Kingdom. In July, ITV revealed that an independent security assessment compiled for Harry identified six distinct terror scenarios targeting him, five of which originated within the UK, alongside the external Al-Qaeda threat.
2+In July, ITV reported that a security assessment prepared for Harry identified six terror scenarios targeting him, five of them originating in Britain. That assessment also included the al-Qaeda threat. Harry now argues that the very fact that intelligence about the threat wasn’t passed to him in real time reinforces his distrust of the mechanism that’s supposed to determine what level of security he’s entitled to.