THE “REAL reason” Prince Harry allegedly turned down an invite from King Charles to stay at a royal residence can be revealed.
The 39-year-old spent three nights in London on a whistle-stop tour to promote the Invictus Games this month but didn’t see the King.
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Harry was said to have made several requests for a meeting and blamed the King’s “full programme” when it didn’t happen.
But Charles did agree to put Harry up at a secret royal residence knowing he does not have a UK base, according to The Telegraph.
And Harry said no because it would leave him staying in a “visible location with public entrance and exit points and no police protection”, it has been claimed.
Harry ended up staying in a hotel, which he could leave unnoticed.
This is despite any royal residence having armed guards at entry and exit points, which any London hotel wouldn’t have.
It’s not been reported where exactly Prince Harry was offered a room, but it is thought St James’ Palace is a strong contender.
It’s directly opposite Clarence house where the King stays when he’s in London.
Prince Harry claimed the King was “too busy” to meet.
A spokesman said: “It unfortunately will not be possible due to His Majesty’s full programme.
“The Duke of course is understanding of his father’s diary of commitments and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon.”
Since then it’s been revealed the King did have a packed programme that week, but had made changes that would let him see his son.
The Duke arrived in London on May 7 for a three-day promotional tour of the Invictus Games, which is celebrating its ten year anniversary.
On May 8 Harry spoke at an event in St Paul’s Cathedral where he gave a Bible reading from Corinthians that stressed different people have different gifts and strengths.
As Harry’s event got underway, The King met members of the public at a Buckingham Palace garden party just over two miles away.
The prince was also the surprise guest at a party hosted by Scotty’s Little Soldiers, a charity that supports the bereaved kids of military personnel.
Harry has been in legal battles with the Home Office over security during visits to the UK.
The Duke of course is understanding of his father’s diary of commitments and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon
Archewell spokesman
The prince has only been allowed police protection when taking part in royal events, according to the Telegraph.
Such instances include the late Queen’s funeral or when he was taken to meet the King from Heathrow in February following Charles’ shock cancer diagnosis.
When travelling to and from his hotel in February, the prince only had his own, private bodyguards, the Telegraph alleges.
He now has to give the Metropolitan Police 28 days’ notice if he wants to come to the UK with security provisions.
Each request is dealt with on an individual basis by Ravec, the committee overseeing the protection of royalty and public figures.
Harry’s whistle-stop February visit took just 26 hours while he spent just 20 hours in London for the King’s Coronation last May.
The Duke spent between 30 and 40 minutes with Charles at Clarence House before the Monarch departed for Sandringham via helicopter.
Harry and Meghan have been without a UK home since the The Sun revealed they were evicted from Frogmore Cottage last year.
Archewell was approached for comment.
Harry & the King can’t play happy families with such huge public attention, says The Sun’s Matt Wilkinson
By Matt Wilkinson, Royal Editor
Prince Harry is in London but he won’t meet his father The King.
The Duke of Sussex arrived from LA alone without Meghan or their children for a busy diary of events marking 10 years of his Invictus Games.
Before setting off from California it is understood Harry was said to have been “keen’ to see the King for only the second time since his cancer diagnosis.
It is rather telling that confirmation there will be no meeting has come from the Office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex rather than Buckingham Palace.
His team say “it unfortunately will not be possible due to His Majesty’s full program”.
They add: “The Duke of course is understanding of his father’s diary of commitments and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon.”
Now, the word that jumps out is “priorities”.
The King, we understand, is busy as he returns to public duty.
For instance, on Tuesday while Harry was in London the King was carrying out his constitutional duty and meeting the Prime Minister of Fiji at the palace.
He is also set to host a palace garden party and weekly audience with the Prime Minister on Wednesday.
And Harry’s diary is packed full for three days with Invictus. However, they will be at times just two miles apart and risk even driving past each other on London’s roads.
Some observers may see this as “sad” that father and son cannot find time.
Others may say that it’s understandable as both have work commitments and “priorities”.
But maybe there has just been too much water under the bridge for father and son to play happy families amid such huge public attention
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A timeline of Prince Harry and William’s ‘feud’: Brothers ‘at war’
In 2018, The Sun told how “simmering tension” began when William questioned the speed of Harry and Meghan’s engagement.
The first hints of friction reportedly came after William was introduced to Meghan when she was staying at Kensington Palace.
Once she’d returned home to Canada, William and Harry sat down for a brother-to-brother chat.
He knew Harry was already head-over-heels for her but it has been claimed he advised him to take it slowly.
The younger prince reportedly didn’t take too kindly to the advice, with one royal source saying he “went mental”.
Then in June 2019 Harry and Meghan officially split off from the charity they shared with William and Kate.
The Royal Foundation will be divided between the Sussexes and Cambridges as the couples focus on their own separate charitable endeavours.
Prince William and Prince Harry first established the Royal Foundation in 2009 before Kate joined two years later shortly after their engagement was announced.
The trio would often appear together at events and the Foundation had huge successes with projects like the Invictus Games for injured veterans and the mental health Heads Together campaign.
The Royal Foundation said the decision was made following the conclusion of a review into its structure – but added both couples will continue to work together in the future.
Harry and Meg were living in close proximity to Kate and Wills within the Kensington Palace estate, but they switched to Frogmore Cottage in Windsor before baby Archie was born.
The move further increased rumours of a fallout.
Harry, 39, also hinted in his ITV documentary “Harry and Meghan, An African Journey” that he and his brother had grown apart.
It came after Prince Philip called Meghan the “D.O.W” after the Duchess of Windsor — the American divorcee who led Edward VIII to abdicate.
And he warned the late Queen to be “cautious” of Harry’s then bride-to-be, a royal author claims.
Ingrid Seward revealed in new book My Mother And I that Prince Philip felt it was “uncanny…how much Meghan reminded him of the Duchess of Windsor“.
In 2021, Harry and Meghan give their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey where Harry accused his dad of cutting him off financially.
Harry then jetted back to UK to join William in unveiling a statue to their mother Princess Diana in the grounds of Kensington Palace. But sources claimed William didn’t want to attend the memorial amid their ongoing rift.
In 2022, just before their grandmother the Queen died, sources claimed Kate acts as a “peacemaker” between the brothers.
Last year Harry claimed his brother “knocked him to the floor” during an argument about Meghan.
In his book Spare, Harry said William branded Meghan “rude” and “difficult” during a row.
Harry alleged William “grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and … knocked me to the floor”.
He said he was left with a visible injury to his back following the argument in 2019 at Nottingham Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace, where he was living at the time.
In January this year, Harry flew in to be with Charles after the monarch’s shock cancer diagnosis.
Harry flew back to the US the following day – without seeing Wills.