Staying with family can be fraught. Just ask Prince Harry, who claims his invite to crash at one of his father’s palaces during his current U.K. trip has been rescinded at the last minute.
Prince Harry’s visit to the U.K., a rare trip home for the California-based royal, hinted at a potential thawing of relations with his estranged family, especially when he announced he’d be staying at Buckingham Palace. When that invite was rescinded at the last minute, sparking a standoff of duelling statements in the press, it underscored just how far this reconciliation has to go.
Prince Harry announced Buckingham Palace stay
This morning, the same day the prince is due to arrive in the U.K. for a series of events hyping up the 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham, his spokesperson announced that he had accepted an invitation to stay at Buckingham Palace.
In itself, this was quite surprising. The rift between Prince Harry, who quit working royal life in 2020 and moved to California, and his family has played out with soap-operatic twists and turns for several years now. And while he’s returned to the kingdom many times since, to the public’s knowledge, the closest he has come to staying under the royal roof were brief visits — as in, an hour over afternoon tea — to see his father at Clarence House.
Could a royal reconciliation be afoot? Within 15 minutes, it quickly appeared the opposite. That’s because, per the BBC, the palace swiftly denied that Prince Harry would be staying there, after all.
Palace sleepover invite withdrawn
Hold on, because the hospitality whiplash continues from there. Prince Harry’s spokesperson then said that the King’s invite was “withdrawn at the last moment.”
The stated reason for this “disappointing” about-face? Prince Harry’s lawsuit against the parent company of the Daily Mail, where he was part of a group of plaintiffs alleging the tabloid had used illegal means to gather private information for stories, is set to receive a verdict tomorrow. Having Prince Harry under his roof, it’s claimed, would put the King — who the courts technically report to — in an awkward constitutional position.
Through British news agency PA Media, Buckingham Palace once again quickly shot back saying that on Saturday, Prince Harry had actually turned down the invite to stay, which had also included his wife and children. That afternoon, however, he seems to have changed his mind and asked if he could stay by himself.
At that point, however, the palace claims that it was simply too late, and they couldn’t make sure they had the right “staffing and hospitality provision” in place for him.
It’s worth noting here that this isn’t simply a matter of King Charles changing the sheets in a spare bedroom for his son. The monarch actually lives — among other places — at Clarence House in London, a temporary move while Buckingham Palace is being renovated that he recently announced would become permanent. Prince Harry’s stay at Buckingham Palace would involve an entirely separate setup — and possibly security, which seems to be the true crux of this palaver.
If you’ve been following along, you’ll know that security while he’s in the U.K. has been a sore point for Prince Harry. When he quit as a working royal, he lost his government-funded protection. He’s been fighting to have it restored, but so far, he’s been unsuccessful.
Unclear if Meghan and kids will join Harry
This is behind an earlier U-turn in this visit’s logistical see-saw: Initially, Prince Harry announced that his wife, Meghan Markle, and their two children would be joining him. This was significant, since neither the Duchess of Sussex nor their two children had been to the U.K. since 2022’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations for the late Queen Elizabeth. This visit was set to be a homecoming of sorts: Not only would Meghan join her husband for events, but the prince apparently planned to take his children to his mother Diana’s grave.
When he heard that his family would not be receiving government-backed police security, after all, Prince Harry announced that he would be visiting London on his own after making “alternate arrangements.” This does leave the door open, however, for Meghan and the kids to join him at engagements outside the capital.
One door that seems firmly shut, however? The gates of Buckingham Palace.
