Prince Harry will not be joined by his wife Meghan Markle and their two children in London next week after a request for police protection was reportedly denied.
Prince Harry is due in Birmingham and London from Tuesday July 7 to Saturday July 11 next week, for charity events and engagements promoting the 2027 Invictus Games.
After much uncertainty, it has been confirmed, according to The Telegraph, that Meghan, Lilibet, 5, and Archie, 7, will not be joining him in London due to Prince Harry’s request for taxpayer-funded police protection during the visit being reportedly denied.
It has not been confirmed where Harry will stay during his time in London. However, reports suggest he had previously been offered accommodation in royal lodgings before his family’s security request was denied.
The Duke of Sussex is reportedly liaising privately with his father, King Charles, regarding accommodation, as well as arrangements for a possible father-son reunion.
While Meghan and the children are not expected to travel to London, The Telegraph reports they may still visit other parts of the UK.
The visit was due to mark a long-awaited reunion between Prince Harry’s children and their grandfather, King Charles, as well as the Duchess of Sussex’s first visit to the UK since 2022.
The last-minute setback will reportedly not affect Prince Harry’s packed schedule but will result in him visiting the Royal Hospital Chelsea alone, where Meghan had been expected to accompany him.
The denied request is another setback for Prince Harry, though not an unfamiliar one.
After being stripped of tax-funded police protection in 2020 following his and Meghan Markle’s decision to step down as working members of the royal family, Prince Harry has fought to have that protection reinstated when he and his family visit the UK.
The Duke’s legal challenge ultimately failed in 2025, when the Court of Appeal upheld the original decision to deny him automatic taxpayer-funded police protection.
The lengthy battle was previously addressed by Prince Harry during an interview with the BBC, in which he said there was “no possibility” of keeping his family safe without sufficient security.
“The UK is my home. The UK is central to the heritage of my children and a place I want them to feel at home as much as where they live at the moment in the United States,” Harry said in a statement to the High Court of London in 2023.
“That cannot happen if there is no possibility to keep them safe when they are on UK soil.”