Prince Harry will not stay at Buckingham Palace during his stay in Britain this week, the palace said, despite a spokesperson for the King’s youngest son telling media on Monday that he had accepted an invitation to do so. Harry had not formally responded to the offer of royal accommodation by a specified deadline, and was told over the weekend that he could no longer stay at Buckingham Palace in central London.

Dispute Over Royal Accommodation

The prince’s visit to London and Birmingham for a series of charity engagements has sparked speculation as to whether the estranged royal would spend time with his father, King Charles, or stay in a royal palace. But the buildup to the trip has been overshadowed by a dispute with the government over security. A spokesperson for the prince said on Sunday that Harry’s wife, Meghan, and children Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, would not join him on the trip to London, but could join later when he visits Birmingham.

Focus on Security and Public Perception

“For a trip that was meant to be about the Invictus Games and about his children coming to the U.K. for the first time in four years, it’s really become about a big row about security,” British journalist Victoria Murphy, who has covered the Royal Family for 15 years, told CBC News. Harry, a British army veteran who served in Afghanistan, planned the visit to mark a year before the Invictus Games, the Paralympic-style competition he founded to motivate and inspire military veterans around the world as they work to overcome battlefield injuries. The event was held in British Columbia last year, and is scheduled to take place in Birmingham next year.

Conflicting Accounts and Timeline Disputes

Prince Harry’s upcoming return to Britain has become the subject of an extraordinary royal back-and-forth, with Buckingham Palace and the Duke of Sussex’s team offering sharply different accounts of what happened behind the scenes over King Charles’ offer of royal accommodation. The latest twist came on Monday. July 6. When Harry’s spokesperson said the offer for the Duke to stay at Buckingham Palace during his London visit had been withdrawn after he had formally accepted it. Palace sources. However, disputed that account, saying Harry failed to respond by the required deadline and that a later request to accept the offer came only after arrangements could no longer be made.

The conflicting briefings capped more than a week of rapidly shifting developments surrounding Harry’s long-planned return to the U.K. for engagements marking the one-year countdown to the 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham.