As Prince Harry is in court for appeal over downgraded UK security, who is his barrister Shaheed Fatima KC?

Dressed in a grey suit and grey tie, Prince Harry waved when he arrived at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, but did not respond to a question by a reporter who asked him the question: “Did you speak to your dad?”

The BBC reported that Prince Harry’s barrister Shaeed Fatima KC “in a skeleton argument for the duke, she writes: "This appeal concerns the most fundamental right: to safety and security of person."

“She continues: "[Prince Harry's] security does not appear to have been discussed at any formal Ravec meeting and there are no official notes or detailed minutes recording the approach to be taken to [his] security and the rationale for it."

“As a reminder, Ravec is the Royal and VIP Executive Committee, which decides the level of protection members of the Royal Family and other high profile people in the UK receive from the security services.”

Who is Prince Harry’s barrister Shaheed Fatima KC?

Shaheed Fatima KC works for Blackstone Chambers. In her profile on their website, she is described as someone who “has a broad practice which includes commercial law, civil liberties/human rights, public law/regulatory law and public international law. Many of her cases involve group litigation and aspects of conflict of laws, public international law or foreign law.”

Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown appointed Shaheed Fatima KC the Chair of the Legal Panel to the Inquiry on Protecting Children in Conflict in April 2017, she was also the lead author of the book that was produced as party of the Inquiry: Protecting Children in Armed Conflict that was published by Hart/Bloomsbury Publishing) in 2018.

In December 2023 Shaheed Fatima KC told the High Court that "Ravec should have considered the 'impact' a successful attack on the claimant would have, bearing in mind his status, background and profile within the royal family - which he was born into and which he will have for the rest of his life - and his ongoing charity work and service to the public."

“But the Home Office's case argued that as the prince was no longer a working royal and lived overseas, "his position has materially changed.”