Prince Harry’s return to Britain with Meghan Markle and their children was always going to revive one of the most sensitive issues surrounding the Sussexes: security. After years of legal disputes, repeated warnings about the risks he believes his family faces, and a long campaign to secure stronger protection in the UK, Harry arrived back in the country hoping that his new circumstances might finally lead to a different outcome. Instead, the first arrangement reportedly offered to him was far more limited than the protection he had been seeking.

Harry and Meghan landed at Birmingham Airport with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet after flying from Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles aboard a Bombardier Global Express XRS. The family left the private aviation section roughly 20 minutes later in a Mercedes-Benz V220d worth around £80,000, accompanied by a privately arranged security team. What they did not have was a taxpayer-funded police convoy or the kind of automatic police protection Harry once received as a senior working member of the Royal Family.

According to the Daily Mail report, ITV News said the Sussexes were instead given the contact details of a police liaison officer and told that their protection would not, at that stage, be increased beyond that arrangement. For someone who has spent years arguing that private security cannot provide all the intelligence, access and authority available to British police, that was unlikely to feel like a significant victory.

Harry is reportedly unhappy with the situation and has instructed his lawyers to write to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood asking her to intervene. His concern is not entirely new. Since he and Meghan stepped back from royal duties in 2020, Harry has been involved in a prolonged dispute with the Home Office over the level of security available to him and his family during visits to Britain. Security concerns had previously influenced whether Meghan and the children would accompany him at all.

This time, however, the situation is different because the Sussexes are no longer simply making another brief trip. Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, have reportedly been enrolled in British schools and are preparing to begin classes. Harry and Meghan are also establishing a non-royal residence outside London while continuing to maintain properties in California and Portugal. Their plan has been described as an “international” family arrangement rather than a permanent abandonment of their American life.

That shift may be why Harry still believes the protection question is not finished. Home Office officials are reportedly “actively assessing” his case again after the family’s decision to reside in Britain. Mahmood is also said to have ordered a new review of the terror threat facing the Sussexes. A government insider was quoted as saying officials had been asked to make a fresh assessment now that the family had chosen to live in the UK, with recommendations expected later.

The formal decisions are handled by Ravec, the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures, which includes representatives from the Home Office, Metropolitan Police and Royal Household. Harry had been waiting for a risk assessment earlier in the summer, and that process was believed to have been completed toward the end of July. He subsequently gave the Home Office 28 days’ notice of his intention to return, apparently believing his changed circumstances might lead to a different level of protection.

For now, that expectation has not been fulfilled. Harry’s longtime friend and security adviser David Langdown is instead responsible for organizing the family’s immediate protection. Langdown, who has reportedly known Harry for at least 15 years, is believed to have assembled a British private security team made up of people he knows and trusts. His presence in the Sussexes’ vehicle after their arrival underlined how dependent the family remains on private arrangements.

Former royal protection officer Scott Hamer was particularly critical of the situation. Hamer, who previously provided security for King Charles when he was Prince of Wales, described the decision to provide only a liaison contact as “absolutely incredible” and argued that it could leave the Sussexes “in danger.” He contrasted Harry’s position with that of former British prime ministers who continue to receive publicly funded protection, arguing that decisions should ultimately be based on threat and risk rather than status alone.

That comparison is likely to intensify the debate rather than settle it. Critics of Harry may question why taxpayers should once again fund his security after he voluntarily stepped away from official royal duties and established a financially independent life abroad. Supporters, however, can point to the fact that the threat assessment surrounding a globally recognized member of the Royal Family does not disappear simply because his formal working role has changed.

The timing also makes the issue more emotionally charged. Harry and Meghan brought Archie and Lilibet to see King Charles at Highgrove only a month before their latest return, reportedly marking the King’s first in-person meeting with the children in around four years. Sources close to Harry have said he “never really stopped missing home” and wants his children to understand where he grew up and where their family comes from. Meghan is also said to value giving them the opportunity to experience both Britain and America.

That ambition now collides directly with the security issue Harry has been fighting over for years. A family making occasional visits can adapt its plans around specific threats. A family with children attending school in Britain has daily routines, predictable movements and a much more permanent presence.

For the moment, Harry has returned with expensive private travel, trusted personal security and a police liaison contact — but not the taxpayer-funded police protection he hoped his circumstances might restore. The new review means the final word may still be some way off. Yet the symbolism of that single phone number is difficult to ignore: Harry is back in Britain, but the system surrounding him is still treating him very differently from the royal life he left behind.