Buckingham Palace Withdraws Offer for Prince Harry to Stay There During This Week’s Visit to London Amid Row

LONDON — Buckingham Palace confirmed Monday that Prince Harry will not be staying at the royal residence during his visit to London this week, contradicting an earlier statement from the Duke of Sussex’s team that said he had accepted an offer to do so, in the latest episode of confusion and mutual finger-pointing between the two camps.

According to a royal source, Harry had not formally responded to King Charles’ offer of accommodation at a royal residence by the required deadline, which fell at the end of last week. The source said an initial offer for a royal residence to accommodate the wider Sussex family was turned down on Saturday, before a separate request came in for Harry to stay by himself. By that point, the source said, it was too late to arrange the appropriate hospitality and staffing needed to host him, a requirement the palace says applies to any guest staying at one of its residences.

Harry’s spokesperson offered a different account of events. In a statement, the spokesperson said that following a decision by the Royal and VIP Executive Committee, known as RAVEC, not to provide taxpayer-funded security for his family, the duke spent last week arranging alternative security measures. Once those arrangements were finalized, the spokesperson said, Harry was able to formally accept the accommodation offer over the weekend. The spokesperson called it “disappointing” that the offer had since been withdrawn, noting that Buckingham Palace had cited a Tuesday court judgment as a reason for the reversal despite having been aware of the judgment’s timing since the previous Thursday. “It is therefore unclear why, having formally accepted the accommodation offer, it has now been withdrawn at the last moment,” the spokesperson said.

Palace sources have also pointed to sensitivities surrounding the timing of a High Court judgment expected this week in a long-running legal case Harry brought against the publisher of the Daily Mail, alongside other claimants including Elton John, Sadie Frost, Elizabeth Hurley and Baroness Doreen Lawrence. Sources close to the palace have suggested concerns about Harry staying at a royal residence on the same day that judgment is handed down, saying the King cannot appear to be compromised in relation to the ongoing litigation.

The back-and-forth has drawn attention to what several outlets have described as a pattern of poor communication and mutual distrust between the Sussex team and Buckingham Palace, a dynamic that has persisted since Harry and his wife, Meghan, stepped back from royal duties in 2020. Multiple British media outlets reported earlier Monday, citing Harry’s spokesperson, that the duke had accepted the palace’s invitation, only for palace sources to push back within hours and say the acceptance had come too late to be honored.

The dispute has also become fodder for public commentary. Royal commentator Dan Wootton wrote on the social media platform X that King Charles was “absolutely right to say no to Prince Harry (and Meghan Markle especially) staying in Buckingham Palace,” adding that “the door must now be slammed shut.” Wootton, whose remarks reflect his own characterization of the situation rather than an official palace position, further wrote that Harry and Meghan had made unfounded allegations of racism in an effort to undermine the royal family and that, in his view, their public actions have repeatedly generated controversy. Wootton’s comments represent one vocal perspective among many being expressed publicly as the story has developed, and they have not been endorsed by Buckingham Palace or any official royal spokesperson.

Harry is traveling to the United Kingdom this week to mark the one-year countdown to the 2027 Invictus Games, the Paralympic-style sporting competition for injured and ill servicemen and veterans that he founded more than a decade ago, along with a series of other charity engagements planned across London and the Midlands. It had already been confirmed, separately from the accommodation dispute, that Harry would travel without Meghan and their two children, Archie and Lilibet, following the RAVEC decision not to provide the family with police protection funded by taxpayers during their visits to the UK. It remains possible that Meghan could join Harry later in the week in Birmingham for events tied to the Invictus Games countdown, according to reporting on his travel plans.

The accommodation dispute has added further uncertainty to the question of whether Harry will meet with his father during the visit, a meeting that had reportedly been under discussion before the disagreement over lodging emerged. It also remains unclear whether King Charles will have the opportunity to see his two grandchildren, now ages seven and five, whom he has reportedly not seen in person in roughly four years, should Meghan and the children ultimately join Harry later in the trip.

Harry and Meghan were last together in the United Kingdom in 2022 for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. Since stepping back from their roles as senior working royals that same year, the couple has largely resided in the United States, making periodic visits to the UK for specific engagements, court proceedings and family events, several of which have similarly been marked by public disagreements over security arrangements and other logistical matters.

As of Monday, neither Buckingham Palace nor representatives for Harry had indicated whether the dispute over accommodation would affect the broader schedule of his visit this week, including his planned charity engagements and any potential meeting with the King. Both sides have continued to offer contrasting accounts of how the accommodation offer was extended, accepted and ultimately withdrawn, with no clear indication that either party intends to publicly revise its version of events in the immediate aftermath of Monday’s statements.