Prince Harry will not stay at Buckingham Palace during his visit to London

Prince Harry has been informed that he will not be able to stay at Buckingham Palace this week, after failing to accept an invitation in time, a royal source said on Monday (6), highlighting the still tense relationship between King Charles and his second son.

Harry had planned to take his two children on their first visit to the UK in four years, but on Saturday (4), his spokesman said that Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, would not be going to London. The family was unable to reach a security agreement with the government.

With the cancellation of the family trip and the lack of agreement on where the prince - who has lived in California since 2020 with his American wife, Meghan - will stay, it appears that his declared desire to reconcile with the royal family has made little progress.

Tense relations
A royal source said that despite repeated requests for clarification, Harry did not respond to an invitation to stay at a royal residence within the stipulated time frame to give staff time to prepare.

The prince then formally declined the invitation before later changing his mind, the source added.

Harry's spokesman said he was unable to immediately accept the offer of accommodation because he was arranging alternative security following the government's decision not to provide protection.

The 41-year-old prince has been estranged from most of his family since he stopped being a working royal six years ago and has repeatedly criticized them in interviews and in his memoir "Spare", published in 2023.

He is due to arrive in London on Tuesday (7) and in Birmingham later in the week for a series of charity engagements. He will also be in the country to find out whether he has won legal action in the UK against the publisher of the Daily Mail, brought over allegations of illegal conduct.

The royal source said Charles plays a constitutional role in the legal system, which would make it difficult to associate him too directly with individual court cases.

Harry's spokesman said this was the reason Buckingham Palace withdrew its offer of accommodation "at the last minute".

"It is therefore disappointing that the offer has now been withdrawn, based on Tuesday's court ruling in the case of Associated Newspapers Limited," the spokesperson said.

Harry's spokesperson had initially said the family would be staying in a combination of private and royal accommodation.

Royal residences offer Harry additional security - one of his biggest concerns - and a royal source said the family would continue to be invited to stay in royal residences on future trips.

Security concerns
Harry said the lack of police protection offered by Britain had prevented him in recent years from bringing his children to the country, and the *Telegraph* newspaper reported on Saturday that a request for police protection had been denied.

However, their children could still come for the second half of the trip, as the spokesperson had ruled out just them going to London.

Charles, who is still undergoing cancer treatment, has not spent time with his two grandchildren since they were born, but Harry said, in May last year, that he wanted the disagreements to end, which sparked speculation about a meeting during this trip.

Buckingham Palace did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Source: CNN