A woman known to be fixated on Prince Harry positioned herself just metres behind him in the High Court's public gallery on two separate occasions during his privacy case against Associated Newspapers Limited last week.
The Duke of Sussex's private security personnel identified her immediately, as she appears on a register of fixated individuals compiled by a private intelligence firm working for the estranged royal.
However, court security staff were powerless to act once alerted.
A source close to the duke told The Telegraph: "There is nothing they could do; they are not the police. It's a public building, and she has a right to be there."
Prince Harry's stalker was sat just meters away from him during his High Court trial, a source revealed
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The source added: "He is obviously always worried about his security situation; it's not ideal."
This development occurred as the Home Office continues a security threat review initiated in December.
The woman believed to be experiencing mental health difficulties has a troubling history of appearing near the Duke at various locations.
She previously tracked Harry to Nigeria and managed to breach security at a central London hotel last September, gaining access to a secure zone during the WellChild Awards ceremony.
Two days after that incident, security sources confirmed she was spotted close to the Duke at the Centre for Blast Injury Studies in west London.
The pattern of encounters underscores the persistent nature of the threat facing Harry, who attended the High Court for four days during the opening of his £38million privacy trial and gave evidence on the stand for just over two hours on Wednesday.
As his stalker was sat in the public gallery, security were unable to remove her
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The security review represents a significant shift in government policy, coming despite Harry's defeat in a legal battle against the Home Office over his entitlement to automatic state-funded protection.
Following that unsuccessful appeal, the Duke wrote directly to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, hoping for a different approach than that taken by her predecessor Yvette Cooper.
Approximately two months later, the Risk Management Board agreed to conduct a full assessment, with its conclusions to be submitted to the Royal and VIP Executive Committee, known as Ravec.
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Harry's most recent comprehensive threat evaluation took place in 2019 whilst he remained a working royal, when assessors placed him in the highest possible category at level seven out of seven.
Neil Basu, who formerly led the UK's Counter Terrorism unit and served on Ravec between 2018 and 2021, believes the Duke has been left vulnerable without armed protection.
He said repeated encounters with a stalker "must be incredibly anxiety-inducing".
Prince Harry is still awaiting the outcome of his Ravec review
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"There are clearly people with fixations, and you can never fully know where that fixation will lead until you've assessed that person's state of mind – it might be declarations of undying love and sending roses, or it might be wanting to cause harm," he said.
The former police chief described the Home Office's decision to conduct a review as "incredibly positive", adding he cannot envisage circumstances where Harry's risk level has diminished since 2019.
"As one of the most recognisable men on the planet, his threat and risk will be, in my view, the same as it was in 2019. It may even have increased because of the publicity around him," Mr Basu said.
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