🚨 LAST-MINUTE: PRINCE HARRY’S REQUEST INVOLVING BUCKINGHAM PALACE REPORTEDLY ALARMED ROYAL AIDES… BUT WHAT HAS DRAWN EVEN MORE ATTENTION IS THE SERIES OF UNUSUAL CHANGES THAT FOLLOWED
The Duke of Sussex had initially missed the deadline to respond to the offer, then turned it down, before changing his mind once more.
Prince Harry requested to stay at Buckingham Palace for just one night of his visit to the UK, according to sources.
The King has turned down a last-minute request from Prince Harry to stay at Buckingham Palace, with royal officials citing frustration over the Duke’s repeated changes of plan and concerns about a significant court ruling due today.
Palace aides grew alarmed when Harry sought accommodation for Tuesday night specifically, the same day the High Court is expected to deliver its verdict on his privacy claim against Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail.
Courtiers were determined to create distance between the royal residence, the legal decision and any subsequent reaction from the Duke of Sussex.
Prince Harry requested to stay at Buckingham Palace for just one night of his visit to the UK, according to sources.
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Senior palace figures are anxious to safeguard the monarch’s constitutional standing, as the King cannot appear closely connected to rulings issued by his courts.
The accommodation dispute followed days of uncertainty, with the Duke declining the palace’s invitation in writing on Saturday before attempting to reverse his decision.
By that point, palace sources indicated that adequate staffing and hospitality arrangements could not be organised, as the royal household requires sufficient advance notice.
On Monday morning, Harry’s team announced he would be staying at the palace during his British visit, only for royal sources to swiftly contradict this, confirming the invitation had been accepted too late.
Courtiers were determined to create distance between the royal residence, the legal decision and any subsequent reaction from the Duke of Sussex.
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The Duke had initially missed the deadline to respond to the offer, then turned it down, before changing his mind once more.
The palace acknowledged it had declined to adjust arrangements with merely two days’ warning.
Harry’s representatives have challenged the palace’s version of events, with a source close to the Duke questioning whether the accommodation offer “was ever intended to be available once the Duke sought to take it up”.
The Duke’s spokesman expressed disappointment at the withdrawal, noting that Buckingham Palace had been aware of Tuesday’s judgment since last Thursday.
Harry’s team insisted he had acted in good faith throughout, explaining that he had spent much of last week arranging alternative security after learning his family would not receive police protection.
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“It is therefore unclear why, having formally accepted the accommodation offer, it has now been withdrawn at the last moment,” the spokesman said.
Harry’s team insisted he had acted in good faith throughout, explaining that he had spent much of last week arranging alternative security after learning his family would not receive police protection.
They also alleged the palace’s stated reasons for rescinding the offer had shifted over time, with the court ruling date only mentioned latterly.
The eleventh-hour developments have plunged the entire trip into disarray, following a period already marked by tensions over multiple last-minute alterations and competing briefings from both sides.
Speculation continues about whether Harry’s children might be reunited with their grandfather for the first time in four years, though the decision not to bring them to London, made on Saturday, has made such a meeting less likely.
The Duke is understood to be communicating directly with the King about whether an encounter might still occur, having been eager for his children to spend time with their grandfather.
Harry touched down in Britain on Monday evening and will now stay in private accommodation during his five-day visit, which includes engagements for the Invictus Games, WellChild and Scotty’s Little Soldiers.
SOURCE: GB NEWS