The Duke of Sussex turned down an offer from the King to stay at Buckingham Palace during his last UK visit in May – according to reports.
Prince Harry, 39, returned to his home country from the US to attend a service at St Paul’s Cathedral to mark the tenth anniversary of the Invictus Games.
Although it was previously known that Harry declined his father’s invitation to stay at a royal residence, The Times reports that rooms in Buckingham Palace were offered as accommodation during the Duke’s trip, while Charles was staying nearby at Clarence House.
Instead, Harry opted to stay at a hotel and did not see his father during his visit in May, “due to His Majesty’s full programme”.
A source told HELLO! at the time: “The Duke of course is understanding of his father’s diary of commitments and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon.”
Harry’s last reunion with Charles took place in February following the announcement of the King’s cancer diagnosis.
The Duke made a transatlantic dash to meet with the King for 45 minutes at Clarence House before Charles headed for Sandringham.
© GettyHarry’s relationship with his father and brother, Prince William, has been strained in recent years, with the Duke making shocking claims about family members in his memoir, Spare, and in his Netflix docuseries.
Appearing on ITV’s documentary, Tabloids on Trial, Harry was asked if his determination to take legal action against newspaper publishers played a part in “destroying the relationship” with his family.
© Getty“Yeah, that’s certainly a central piece to it,” Harry responded. “But, you know, that’s a hard question to answer because anything I say about my family results in a torrent of abuse from the press.
“I’ve made it very clear that this is something that needs to be done. It would be nice if we, you know, did it as a family. I believe that, again, from a service standpoint and when you are in a public role, that these are the things that we should be doing for the greater good. But, you know, I’m doing this for my reasons.”
Security concerns in the UK
The Duke, who is currently on a four-day visit to Colombia, with wife, Meghan, has been granted permission to appeal against the dismissal of his high court challenge over a change to his level of personal security when he visits the UK.
Harry took legal action against the Home Office over the February 2020 decision of the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec) that he should receive a different degree of taxpayer-funded protection when in the country after he and Meghan stepped back as senior royals.
The father-of-two will miss his uncle Lord Fellowes’ funeral amid security concerns.
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