It appears the Prince is no longer welcome to stay at Buckingham Palace
Describing today as a “right Royal circus” would be an understatement.
Despite a solid claim to the contrary this morning, it appears Prince Harry is no longer welcome to stay at Buckingham Palace.
For weeks, Royal aides have been left in limbo after King Charles kindly extended an offer for Prince Harry and his family to stay in a Royal residence while they visited the UK.
Prince Harry had been cautious about accepting due to security concerns, although Buckingham Palace is guarded around the clock by armed police officers and foot guards.
This protection would not have been extended while travelling and during public engagements.
Then, on Saturday morning, Prince Harry formally declined the offer to stay in the historic building to rest his head.
Palace aides then stood down plans to host His Majesty’s second son.
But later in the day, The Prince appeared to change his mind - deciding he would, after all, stay in Buckingham Palace for one night ahead of engagements beginning.
Fast forward to this morning, his spokesperson exclusively told GB News Prince Harry had accepted the King’s offer to stay in “Monarchy HQ”.
We reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment and published the story - sourcing from an official spokesperson is usually classed as sufficient.
However, less than an hour later, palace aides got in touch to tell us Prince Harry would not, in fact, be staying in the Royal residence - something which took his team by surprise.
It turns out Prince Harry was informed on Saturday evening it would not be possible to accommodate him due to the short notice.
Either way, the whole affair has turned into a right Royal farce, completely overshadowing the point of the visit - supporting veterans and service personnel to mark one year until Birmingham hosts the Invictus Games.
Prince Harry’s spokesperson alleges the offer of accommodation has unexpectedly been withdrawn, questioning whether it was ever on the table in the first place.
Prince Harry’s team question why the court case is only being cited as a reason now, when Buckingham Palace has known about it since last Thursday.
Despite Prince Harry’s scepticism, Buckingham Palace insists the offer of Royal accommodation remains for him and his family, should they choose to do so in the future.
I understand many of the conversations leading up to this moment have taken place between Prince Harry and The King himself.
From Harry’s perspective, is it really so difficult, with 500 staff members on the payroll, to accommodate one person in a 700 room palace for one night?
From The King’s perspective, he arguably has far more important priorities than sorting out his son’s temporary living arrangements.
Come what may, Prince Harry is due to land in London later today with a possibility of a meeting between the pair not being ruled out.
If it does, I suspect some tense conversations will be taking place.
