HEARTBREAKING: PRINCE HARRY FEARS ARCHIE AND LILIBET MAY NOT SEE KING CHARLES… AS SECURITY CONCERNS THREATEN THEIR REPORTED UK VISIT!
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Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and their kids (left); King Charles III.Credit : Meghan, Duchess of Sussex/Instagram; Chris Jackson / POOL / AFP via Getty
NEED TO KNOW
Prince Harry reportedly fears that his and Meghan Markle’s kids, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, will not meet King Charles in the U.K. next month due to security concerns
The family was set to travel to Britain for a series of engagements surrounding the one-year countdown to the 2027 Invictus Games
The trip would have been the first time the kids have been in Britain since 2022
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s plans to bring their kids to the U.K. may not come to fruition.
On Friday, June 26, PEOPLE learned that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex planned to bring their children — Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5 — on a trip to visit their family in Britain for the first time since 2022. While there, Harry and Meghan were intending to participate in a series of engagements surrounding the one-year countdown to the 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham. The children were not expected to appear at any public engagements with their parents.
However, The Guardian has since reported that a source close to Harry, 41, has claimed “their plans to see family, friends and visit various charitable causes close to the duke’s heart pulled out from under their feet at the 11th hour.” This is due to the government allegedly declining Harry’s request for police protection outside royal residences.
They continued, “He’s looking at every option to try and get the family here safely and keep them safe when they’re on the ground. If he can find a way to do that he will.”
The source also told the outlet that the prince was adamant that his children would not be “chased by paparazzi.”
“The hope is they can meet their grandfather, but there is no way that can happen if they are chased by paparazzi wherever they go from the moment they step off the plane,” they continued. “He won’t put his children through that.”
On Saturday, June 27, The Telegraph also reported that Harry, 41, was reconsidering the visit after learning that his request for taxpayer-funded police protection was denied.
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Meghan Markle with Archie and Lilibet in ‘Harry & Meghan’; Prince Harry with his son Archie in ‘Harry & Meghan’.Netflix (2)
Security continues to be a central concern for Harry and his family. A palace source said that, while the King, 77, has offered accommodation at a royal residence during the family’s visit, the offer has yet to be accepted.
Buckingham Palace had no comment regarding the latest reports on the Sussexes’ visit.
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Next month’s trip to the U.K. would mark the first time that Archie and Lilibet have been in the country since they visited to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of the late Queen Elizabeth in 2022.
After losing his legal appeal against a government decision that stripped him of automatic police protection when visiting Britain last May, Harry told the BBC that he couldn’t “see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the U.K. at this point.”
“The things that they’re going to miss is, well, everything,” he added of his children. “I miss the U.K., I miss parts of the U.K., of course I do. I think that it’s really quite sad that I won’t be able to show my children my homeland.”
Harry’s trip to the U.K. has been in the works for quite a while, as he planned to watch and participate in a series of exhibition events at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre (NEC) alongside competitors from previous Invictus Games to officially launch the one-year countdown.
“We will be delighted if they come over for the year out and for the Games,” Helen Helliwell, CEO of the Invictus Games in Birmingham, told PEOPLE in July 2025. “We are so far out it’s impossible for one individual to confirm their plans, but we would be delighted if the Duke were able to come.”
He and Meghan, 44, are also set to take part in a series of private meetings with the Invictus Games Foundation at the Royal Hospital Chelsea.
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King Charles III at 7th Session of the Scottish Parliament.Jeff J Mitchell/Getty
While Harry and the King reunited during a few of his previous visits to the U.K. — including in September 2025 when they met at the King’s London residence while Harry was in Britain for the WellChild Awards and Invictus Games events — Archie and Lilibet have only spent a handful of time with the monarch. In fact, Charles has seemingly only met Lilibet once during a “fantastic visit” in June 2022.
No plans for a reunion between Harry and his father during the potential visit have been officially confirmed but it was expected that the monarch would visit with Harry and his family.