Prince Harry will not stay at a royal residence during his return to the UK, after an offer from the King to stay at Buckingham Palace was “withdrawn at the last moment”.
The judgment in the Duke of Sussex’s case against Associated Newspapers, expected on Tuesday, has been given at the reason for the withdrawal.
Harry is understood to have initially turned down the King’s offer, which extended to his wife Meghan and children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, on Saturday.
The trio were originally planned to accompany him to London, but are no longer making the trip.
Harry then made a U-turn later in the day and asked to stay at the palace himself, it is understood.
The appropriate hospitality and staffing provision was said to be no longer available, with Buckingham Palace also believing the longstanding legal case had complicated the matter and could compromise the King’s constitutional position.
It is said that while every effort was made to facilitate Harry’s stay, as a courtesy to staff and others involved, the Household requires a minimum level of notice to ensure he could be hosted appropriately at a royal residence.
Harry and a group of other household names are set to find out on Tuesday whether they have won their High Court privacy cases against the Daily Mail’s publisher, in an expected written ruling by Mr Justice Nicklin.
During the 10-week trial, Harry and other celebrity claimants said that dozens of Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday stories about them had been published based on unlawfully obtained information.
A spokesperson for the duke said: “I am aware of multiple briefings from Buckingham Palace last week suggesting that the Duke had not accepted the offer of accommodation at a Royal Residence.
“Following RAVEC’s decision not to provide security for his family, the duke spent last week making alternative security arrangements.
“Once those arrangements were in place, he was able to formally accept the offer of accommodation for himself over the weekend.
“It is therefore disappointing that the offer has now been withdrawn, with Tuesday’s judgment in the Associated Newspapers Limited case cited as the reason.
“Buckingham Palace has, however, been aware of that judgment since last Thursday. It is therefore unclear why, having formally accepted the accommodation offer, it has now been withdrawn at the last moment.”
There were hopes the King will be able to reunite with his youngest grandchildren for the first time in four years.
Archie, seven, and Lili, five, last saw their grandfather in person during Queen Elizabeth II’s platinum jubilee celebrations in 2022.
Harry has faced a protracted legal battle with the Home Office over the security arrangements for him and his family when in the UK after his level of protection changed when he stepped down as a working royal in 2020.
When the duke lost a Court of Appeal challenge against the Home Office last year, he gave a BBC interview in which he expressed hopes of a reconciliation with his family, revealing Charles would not speak to him because of his security court case.
Harry added: “I can’t see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the UK at this point and the things that they’re going to miss is, well, everything you know.”
The duke, who stepped down from the working monarchy six years ago, has levelled a barrage of accusations at the King, his stepmother the Queen, brother the 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 California.
