Prince Harry arrived in London on Monday, but confusion reigns around the arrangements for this visit to the United Kingdom by the youngest son of King Charles III, reflecting ongoing tensions with the royal family.
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Where will Harry stay? Will Meghan and their children join him later?
There are many questions surrounding this several-day visit by the Duke of Sussex, as part of preparations for the Invictus Games planned for 2027 in Birmingham (central England), an international sporting event that he created for injured or sick veterans.
Harry was to be accompanied by his wife Meghan and their two children, Archie and Lilibet, a first since 2022. The British media were particularly wondering about a possible meeting between King Charles III and his grandchildren.
But since the announcement of this visit in mid-June, its organization has caused a lot of ink to flow, with questions about security, accommodation conditions and the program of the duke and his family.
It turned into a downright imbroglio on Monday with contradictory information from the palace and the prince’s entourage.
Several British media, including the BBC and Sky News, citing a source close to Harry, reported Monday morning that the prince would be staying at Buckingham Palace during his stay in London.
Less than two hours later, the same media published a denial from the palace, which explains that Harry would not have accepted the invitation made to stay in the official residence of the British sovereign in sufficient time.
In the process, a spokesperson for the prince deemed it “disappointing” the fact that the palace’s invitation “was withdrawn at the last minute”, in a statement sent to AFP.
At the end of June, a source familiar with the organization of the trip told AFP that Harry, 41, and his family would be accommodated for part of their stay in a royal residence.
No police protection
This controversy comes two days after someone close to the Duke of Sussex confirmed to AFP that the latter would ultimately go alone to the capital, while leaving open the possibility that Meghan and their children would find him in another city later.
British media report the discontent of Prince Harry, who has lived in California since 2020 and his break with the royal family, over the rejection of his request for police protection for him and his family.
Following this decision by the authorities, “the Duke has spent the last week making alternative security arrangements. Once these arrangements were in place, he was able to formally accept the offer of accommodation for himself over the weekend,” his spokesperson assured Monday.
This issue of security constitutes a major point of tension between him and the royal family. Since their departure, Harry and Meghan have lost routine police protection paid for by the British taxpayer, and their need for protection is now assessed on a case-by-case basis.
The prince had challenged this doctrine in court, but his appeal was dismissed.
This visit also coincides with the publication scheduled for Tuesday of the court decision in the lawsuit he initiated with other celebrities against the owner of the Daily Mail, accused of illegal collection of information.
Harry gave evidence to the High Court in January, saying, on the verge of tears, that the tabloids had made his wife’s life “absolutely hellish”.
According to the PA agency, the palace argued that welcoming Harry to Buckingham in the context of this expected court decision could have damaged the sovereign’s image of constitutional neutrality.
We do not know if the prince will meet King Charles III during his stay, nor his brother, William, with whom he would no longer have any contact since the release in 2023 of his memoirs “Spare”, very critical of the heir to the throne and his wife Kate.
Although he has returned to his country several times in recent years, Harry has only seen the king twice: in February 2024, just after the announcement of the sovereign’s cancer, then in September 2025, where he was invited to share tea with his father in his London residence at Clarence House.
