The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been assured they will have taxpayer funded security for a UK visit, paving the way for the King to meet Meghan and his grandchildren for the first time in four years
Prince Harry and Meghan are likely to meet King Charles when they return to the UK next month.
Royal sources have suggested similar arrangements are set to be made when the Duke of Sussex has returned to Britain alone in recent years. Harry is due to travel to the UK in the first week of July to attend a one-year countdown event for the 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham on Friday, July 10.
It emerged this week that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are to bring their children Archie and Lilibet with them, marking the family’s first visit to the UK for the first time in four years.
Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, last saw their grandfather the King in person at the time of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022.
Harry previously expressed his hopes of bringing his children from the US, but had insisted it was too dangerous amid his legal fight over his UK security.
The Duke has been involved in a protracted battle with the British government over a decision to strip him of his taxpayer funded security following his and Meghan’s decision in 2020 to quit their royal roles.
After losing a case at the High Court and a subsequent hearing at the Court of Appeal, Harry personally wrote to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to request a review of the situation. Contrary to reports, The Mirror can reveal that the King is not involved and has not offered to pay for Harry’s security when in the UK.
Harry, 41, has stated that he feels it is not safe for him to bring his wife and children to the UK and his private security detail do not have the adequate security clearance to determine threats against them.
The Metropolitan Police has consistently said any visit Harry makes to the UK would always be treated on a case by case basis and if he gave adequate notice of his intended travel plans, then he may qualify for taxpayer funded police protection.
It is understood that the Duke and Duchess have been assured that adequate security provision will be in place for their upcoming trip.
Sources suggest the Sussexes have been offered to stay at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle to align with their schedule during the week of their visit. They are yet to accept the invitation.
The trip comes after Harry reunited with Charles, who is still undergoing treatment for cancer, last September for the first time in 19 months. Sources have revealed that the King is likely to meet Harry and Meghan and the children if a request is made from the Sussexes to see him.
A royal source said: “Any meeting between Harry and Meghan and the King would represent a huge thawing of relations. Despite everything that has occurred in recent years, the King loves his son and daughter-in-law dearly and would relish the chance to see his grandchildren.”
Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, last saw their grandfather Charles in person at the time of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022. Lilibet was just one at the time so will surely have no recollection of such a meeting. Meghan has not set foot in the UK, apart from the odd Heathrow Terminal transfer, since the late Queen’s funeral.
It is not known whether Harry and Meghan, or Harry alone, plans to attempt to see the Prince and Princess of Wales. Sources have described their relationship as “rock bottom” in recent times.
One palace insider said: “The Prince and Princess of Wales remain deeply hurt by Harry and Meghan’s comments since leaving their royal duties that they were abandoned and mistreated when part of the royal family.”
Harry and Meghan accused the royal family of racism during an interview with Oprah Winfrey in April 2021. Harry also used his explosive memoir Spare to criticise members of his family, including calling the King and “old man”, labelling his mother in law Queen Camilla a “wicked stepmother” and accusing his brother William of assaulting him.
Sources close to William have vehemently denied a violent altercation ever took place. Meghan, 44, will join Harry on stage at the Invictus event in Birmingham on July 10, it is understood. Harry is also understood to have planned several other engagements with charities in the UK during the week. The couple are unlikely to take their children to public events, after initially fiercely protecting their privacy. In recent years they have started to share partial images of their children on Meghan’s Instagram page.
When the duke lost a Court of Appeal challenge against the Home Office over his security arrangements while in the UK in 2025, he gave a BBC interview in which he expressed hopes of a reconciliation with his family, revealing that Charles would not speak to him because of his court battle over his security.
Harry added he “can’t see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the UK”. The Duke, who stepped down from the working monarchy in 2020, has levelled a barrage of accusations at the King, his stepmother the Queen, brother Prince of Wales and sister-in-law the Princess of Wales in his Oprah interview, Netflix documentary, interviews and his autobiography Spare since moving to the US.
Harry previously claimed Charles was jealous of Meghan and Kate, did not hug him when he told him his mother Diana, Princess of Wales had died, and said he believed the King was “never made” for single parenthood, but “to be fair, he tried”.
Charles, according to the duke, pleaded with his sons during a tense meeting after the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral: “Please, boys. Don’t make my final years a misery.”
Harry, who claimed in his memoir that William physically attacked him and pushed him into a dog bowl, remains estranged from his brother. The Invictus Games sporting competition for wounded, injured and sick service personnel and veterans is being staged in Birmingham next year from July 10-17. Harry and Meghan’s spokesperson has yet to comment.
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