Prince Harry will not be staying at Buckingham Palace during his visit to the UK – National
Prince Harry will not stay at Buckingham Palace this week during his visit to the UK because he failed to accept an invitation in time, Reuters reported on Monday.
Harry was due to bring his two children, Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, to England for the first time in four years later this week, but his spokesman said on Sunday they would no longer be joining their father in Britain after the family failed to agree a security deal with the British government.
Harry and his wife, Meghan, live in California as of 2020; Lilibet was born in the US, and Archie was born in London.
According to Reuters, a royal source said Buckingham Palace sent Harry multiple requests for clarification on the invitation to stay, but he failed to respond before the deadline, leaving staff with insufficient time to prepare for his arrival.
Get the latest country news
Get the best Canadian news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you never miss a trending story.
A source told Reuters that Harry then formally declined the invitation but later changed his mind.
Harry's spokesman said the prince could not accept the request to stay immediately because he was making other security arrangements following the government's decision not to grant protection, and that it was later withdrawn.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, attended the Time100 Summit at Jazz at Lincoln Center in Midtown on April 23.
(Stewart of NY/Getty Images)
The decision on where to live follows a years-long dispute between the prince and his entire family, from whom he separated in 2020 after moving to the US. save, in 2023.
Harry is expected in London on Tuesday and Birmingham later this week for a series of charity talks.
He will be in this country to listen to the decision of the UK court against MGN, which is the publisher of the Daily Mail newspaper, regarding allegations of illegal behavior.
A Reuters royal source said the palace had withdrawn Harry's request to stay because of the monarch's constitutional obligations to stay away from any crime.
Harry's spokesman also told the outlet that this was the reason for Buckingham Palace's cancellation of the stay request at the “last minute”.
“It is therefore disappointing that the request has been withdrawn, with Tuesday's ruling in the Associated Newspapers Limited case being cited as the reason,” the spokesman said, after saying Harry's family would live in a variety of royal and private residences.
Living in the royal household ensures extra security measures, which have always been a point of contention between Harry and his royal relatives. The prince lost his automatic, publicly funded security in 2020 when he stepped down from public service; the decision was challenged by Harry in court but eventually overturned, and security provisions for him are now decided on a case-by-case basis by the British government.
Harry said the lack of police protection provided by Britain in recent times meant he was unable to bring his children into the country.
Harry's father, King Charles III, has not seen his two grandchildren since they were born, but in May last year, Harry said he wanted the fighting to end, sparking speculation of a meeting during the trip.
– via files from Reuters
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
