Embarrassing mix-up over Harry’s palace lodgings

London: Prince Harry has been caught in an embarrassing mix-up over a visit to Britain this week after news emerged that he had accepted an offer to stay at Buckingham Palace, only to have the plans updated because he had agreed to the accommodation too late.

The conflicting accounts increased attention on the rift between the Duke of Sussex and the rest of the royal family ahead of a visit that does not have any scheduled public meetings with his father, King Charles, or his brother, Prince William.

The visit has been the subject of intense scrutiny in Britain after speculation that it would have brought Harry and his wife, Meghan, and their children, Archie and Lilibet, together with the King for a rare gathering.

But the plans were changed last week when the House of Sussex said Meghan and the children would not join Harry on the visit, staying instead at their home in Montecito, California.

Those close to Harry blamed palace officials for the outcome because the visiting family would not be given the full security detail assigned to the royal family, despite a series of threats to the prince over the years.

While the media reported for days on whether the King had decided to make Buckingham Palace available for his son this week, there was no confirmation on Harry’s accommodation until news reports emerged on Monday morning (about 6pm AEST) that he had accepted an offer to stay at the palace.

Within half an hour, officials confirmed Harry would not stay at the palace because he had accepted the offer too late for rooms and staff to be made available.

King Charles met Harry last September in an unannounced discussion in London, but the father and son have rarely been seen together in recent years.

The rift between Harry and the other members of the family has been a source of tension for several years after the younger son aired his grievances about royal life in television shows and a memoir, Spare.

Harry told the BBC in May last year that his request for greater government-funded security for himself and his family had been a “sticking point” with the family. He lost his security when he moved to the United States and took court action to seek to restore it but lost the case.

He said at the time that the King “won’t speak to me because of this security stuff” but added that he wanted to overcome this because his father was undergoing cancer treatment. The meeting last September appeared to close some of the gulf between them.

However, the dispute over security became a major obstacle in the planning for this week’s trip.

“I can’t see a world in which I would bring my wife and children back to the UK at this point,” Harry told the BBC in the interview from the US in May last year.

One of the key events for Harry this week is a gathering to highlight the Invictus Games to be held in Birmingham in July next year.

Harry launched the Invictus Games in 2014 as a sporting competition to help wounded military personnel, and it has since grown into a major event with thousands of participants and substantial donors. It was held in Sydney in 2018.

His plans for this week are also said to include a visit to the Spencer family estate in Northamptonshire where his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, is buried.

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