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Prince Harry has contacted the Home Secretary and appealed for an answer on whether he is getting security for his family which could cost the taxpayer at least £5m a year.

The Duke of Sussex, who in a shock move is coming back to the UK with his family within weeks, has reportedly 'privately pleaded' with Shabana Mahmood for a decision on whether his security will be provided and funded.

A review of his security which he controversially insists must be funded by the taxpayer even though he is a non-working Royal, was apparently carried out on the orders of the Royal and VIP Executive Committee (Ravec) at the end of July by its risk management board (RMB).

However, the board was apparently not informed that Harry was planning a permanent move back to the UK when it considered its decision.

Original estimates of £5m plus for armed police protection for the family when they were in the UK could therefore skyrocket if the Home Office agrees to fund his security and he remains in the UK with his family permanently.

The review followed a lengthy tussle over whether he was eligible as a non-working member of the Royal Family for taxpayer funded support following his failed legal battle against the government last year.

At the time, the Court of Appeal declared that a grievance did not equate to a valid legal argument.

After he lost the case, he blamed an 'establishment stitch up', but continued to battle for a fresh RMB, even writing to the Home Secretary.

Harry, who is said to feel 'numbed' by his struggle to have the security provided for his family, has been told the review is now completed but he has not been given the result despite pushing for it, according to today's Telegraph.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in Sydney earlier this year. In a shock move the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have announced they are returning to the UK with his family within weeks

Harry has reportedly appealed to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood (pictured) for an answer on whether he is getting security for his family in the UK

He has now gone direct to the Home Secretary again, this time to 'plead for answers', they report.

The matter has become more urgent as Harry has now announced his family's sudden return to the UK despite previously having declared the UK was not a place he would currently bring them to because it was not safe for him to do so.

The possibility of the Duchess of Sussex landing a plum acting job in Netflix's The Gentleman is thought to be a key motivator for the surprising volte face.

Harry has repeatedly argued that the taxpayer should fund the cost for his family's security as they are potentially high profile targets and he is said to believe it is just a drop in the ocean of Ravec's overall budget for royalty protection.

Meanwhile fellow non-working royals, such as his cousins, Peter Phillips, Zara Tindall and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie do not receive police protection.

Ravec, which makes the decisions on royal security, includes representatives from the Royal household, the Metropolitan Police, the Home Office, the Cabinet Office and the Foreign Office.

It previously decided what, if any, protection the Duke should have on each visit to the UK.

Relations between Harry and some members of the committee including Sir Clive Alderton, the King's private secretary, who Harry apparently nicknamed 'the Wasp', have previously been strained.

When Harry's last full risk assessment was conducted in April 2019, he was deemed to be such a target that he was put in the highest category - level seven out of seven.

He won his right to a full risk assessment late last year which was scheduled for March but was delayed until the summer after all RMBs were 'paused'.

When it was finally convened, it apparently considered a 40-page risk assessment compiled by the Duke's private security company at the request of the Home Office among the documents it looked at.

The report warned that terrorists could create a 'mass casualty event' if they targeted the Duke in a 'violent attack' at a public event.

Prince Harry has previously faced a number of serious threats against him with several people jailed for either plotting to kill him or encouraging attacks on him.