Updated ,first published
London: Prince Harry has been caught in an embarrassing mix-up over a visit to Britain after news reports said he had accepted an offer to stay at Buckingham Palace this week, only to have the plans updated because he had agreed to the accommodation too late.
The communication breakdown heightened attention on the rift between the Duke of Sussex and the rest of the royal family ahead of a visit that does not have any scheduled public meetings with his father, King Charles, or his brother, Prince William.
Amid the new focus on the family tensions, the King kept to his schedule by visiting a tank museum in Dorset and riding a Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank.
The visit has been the subject of intense scrutiny in Britain after speculation that it would have brought Harry and his wife, Meghan, and their children, Archie and Lilibet, together with the King for a rare gathering.
But the plans were changed last week when the House of Sussex said Meghan and the children would not join Harry on the visit, staying instead at their home in Montecito, California.
Those close to Harry blamed palace officials for the outcome because the visiting family would not be given the full security detail assigned to the royal family, despite a series of threats to the prince over the years.
After days of speculation about whether the King had decided to make Buckingham Palace available for his son this week, the BBC reported on Monday morning (about 6pm AEST) that Harry had accepted an offer to stay at the royal home.
Within half an hour, sources close to the King said this was not true because Harry had accepted the offer too late for rooms and staff to be made available.
Buckingham Palace officials needed confirmation about Harry’s plans at the end of last week, according to royal sources. On Saturday morning, however, the correspondence received at the palace formally declined the King’s offer.
When Harry decided on a later request to accept the Buckingham Palace offer, it was no longer available because of the challenges in ensuring hospitality and staff. However, it would be available on a future visit.
While the tension over housing appeared of minor concern, it highlighted the strains between the King and his second son, as well as the rift between the brothers. Harry and William have not spoken since they attended the funeral of their grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, in September 2022.
The awkward planning for Harry’s visit is also complicated by a significant legal case to be decided in London on Tuesday after the Duke of Sussex and several others, including Elton John and Liz Hurley, took action against some of the British press over their privacy.
Palace sources said this added complexity to the question of where Harry should stay, given that the King had a responsibility under the British Constitution to not appear compromised in any way on the court case.
Harry and others have accused The Daily Mail, one of the country’s most powerful newspapers, of using illegal ploys such as phone hacking to get its news. The owner of the media outlet, Associated Newspapers, has vigorously denied any wrongdoing over stories that appeared between 1993 and 2018.
While the tensions over Buckingham Palace made headlines in Britain, the royal family pressed on with business as usual, including a visit by the King to the Tank Museum in Dorset to present medals to soldiers from the Royal Tank Regiment.
The King then rode in a Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank, sitting atop the vehicle in a helmet, sunglasses, white shirt and tie.
The Princess of Wales, meanwhile, visited children at the Evelina London Children’s Hospital.
King Charles met Harry last September in an unannounced discussion in London, but the father and son have rarely been seen together in recent years.
The rift between Harry and the other members of the family has been a source of tension for several years after the younger son aired his grievances about royal life in television shows and a memoir, Spare.
Harry told the BBC in May last year that his request for greater government-funded security for himself and his family had been a “sticking point” with the family. He lost his security when he moved to the United States and took court action to seek to restore it, but lost the case.
He said at the time that the King “won’t speak to me because of this security stuff” but added that he wanted to overcome this because his father was undergoing cancer treatment. The meeting last September appeared to close some of the gulf between them.
However, the dispute over security became a major obstacle in the planning for this week’s trip.
“I can’t see a world in which I would bring my wife and children back to the UK at this point,” Harry told the BBC in the interview from the US in May last year.
One of the key events for Harry this week is a gathering to highlight the Invictus Games to be held in Birmingham in July next year.
Harry launched the Invictus Games in 2014 as a sporting competition to help wounded military personnel, and it has since grown into a major event with thousands of participants and substantial donors. It was held in Sydney in 2018.
His plans for this week are also said to include a visit to the Spencer family estate in Northamptonshire where his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, is buried.
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David Crowe is Europe correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.