The strained relationship between Prince Harry and his father, King Charles III, has been laid bare once again, after an awkward stand-off over accommodation at Buckingham Palace.
Harry, the Duke of Sussex, is due to travel to the United Kingdom this week, and had considered bringing his wife, Meghan, and two children for the first time in four years.
Prince Harry, who has lived in California since January 2020, has long been concerned about security while in Britain.
Since he is no longer a working royal, he is not entitled to taxpayer-funded police protection. His request for it to be provided on this visit was knocked back.
However, it’s understood the King offered the Duke of Sussex and his family accommodation at Buckingham Palace when they were in London, which would at least give them a secure base for their trip.
In Buckingham Palace’s version of events, it has been claimed that despite repeated requests for clarity, no formal response to the offer had been received by a deadline of last Friday.
The palace claims the Duke and his team gave multiple indications that the accommodation at Buckingham Palace was unsuitable and formally knocked back the King’s offer on Saturday.
However, later on Saturday, the palace claims a belated request from the Duke to stay was received, although the appropriate staging and hospitality provision was no longer available.
A spokesperson for Prince Harry gave a different version of events to the BBC, and claimed the King’s son was under the impression he had accepted an offer to stay at Buckingham Palace, but that the offer had been withdrawn, something they described as “disappointing”.
“It is therefore unclear why, having formally accepted the accommodation offer, it has now been withdrawn at the last moment,” the spokesman for the Duke of Sussex told the BBC.
Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, check out Bondi beach during a visit earlier this year. (Pool: Jonathan Brady via Reuters)
The back-and-forth has again highlighted the strained relationship between King Charles III and his youngest son over the past several years.
In 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced they would be stepping back from their roles as working royals and moving to the United States.
The couple gave an interview to Oprah Winfrey the following year, in which they criticised the royal family, and have since spoken about racism and bias in relation to the institution.
Prince Harry’s 2023 autobiography, which included claims of a physical altercation with his brother in 2019, is also believed to have burnt several bridges.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, has not travelled to the UK with her husband since Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in 2022.
It’s understood the Duke and his brother, Prince William have not spoken since then. Last year, Prince Harry and the King had a brief in-person’s meeting at Clarence House, which lasted less than an hour. There are conflicting accounts of how that went.
“I can’t see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the UK at this point,” he told the BBC in May 2025.
The Duke of Sussex is supposed to travel to the UK to take part in charity engagements and events marking one year until the Invictus Games are held in Birmingham in 2027.
The games are an international multi-sport event for wounded, injured and sick military service personnel and veterans.
Prince Harry and Meghan’s children Archie, aged seven, and Lilibet, five, are rarely seen in public, sparking speculation their arrival in the UK could have sparked a media frenzy.
While it has been confirmed the Duchess and the couple’s children will not travel to London, it remains unclear if they will take part in other aspects of the trip outside the UK’s capital, or if they will remain in the US.
Buckingham Palace has been undergoing major multi-billion-pound modernisation works over the past decade, which are due to be completed next year.
Prince Harry’s expected trip to the UK comes in the same week as the High Court in London is due to hand down the verdict in a case he is involved in.
The Duke and multiple other claimants are suing the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, claiming multiple stories published about them over a period of more than two decades were based on information that was obtained illegally.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.abc.net.au ’
