Back in May, Prince Harry visited the UK. He was invited specifically because the Ministry of Defense organized a church service for the ten-year anniversary of the Invictus Games. Harry’s visit was well-previewed for months, Harry gave everyone enough notice of his visit and King Charles dutifully scheduled several events during the same days when Harry would be in town. When Harry approached his father’s office about scheduling a father-son meeting, Harry was rebuffed. Harry released a public statement saying that because of Charles’s “full program,” there would be no meeting. That one statement set off two full weeks of tantrums from Buckingham Palace as Charles and his aides scrambled to explain why Charles refused to see Harry and why Harry wasn’t offered a room in one of the many royal homes in the UK.
None of their explanations made much sense and there were a lot of contradictory and gaslighting palace briefings. One thing I believed was that Charles did offer Harry a room… but no security. As in, Harry would be allowed to have a room in whatever palace, but there was a security issue and so Harry just stayed in a hotel (like he did the two previous times he visited London). If Charles is going to do anything, it’s put Harry and Harry’s family in danger, you know? Well, months later, the palace decided to give a new briefing on this months-old drama, conveniently timed for the Sussexes’ Colombian tour.
The Duke of Sussex was offered the chance to stay at Buckingham Palace when he last visited Britain but turned it down to stay in a hotel, The Times can reveal. The invitation to use apartments at the palace was made when the duke came to London in May to mark the tenth anniversary of the Invictus Games, his Paralympic-style sporting competition. Although it was already known that the King, 75, had offered accommodation to his younger son, it had not been disclosed that the rooms were in Buckingham Palace, the most prestigious location. The King was staying nearby at Clarence House.
The Sussexes landed in Bogota, Colombia, on Thursday to begin another trip. They will move on to the Caribbean and Pacific regions of Cartagena and Cali. Harry has taken the UK government to the High Court in an attempt to have his right to Scotland Yard security reinstated when he visits Britain. However, he is thought to see a distinction between the security risks facing him in Britain and travelling to Colombia with the benefit of the state’s police protection.
A well-placed source said of the duke’s visit in May: “I don’t know what more the King could have done. He offered Harry to stay at Buckingham Palace but that it seems even that wasn’t good enough. It was far from clear what the duke’s plans were. When it came to it there was no space in the King’s diary in between treatment and other scheduled events.”
One of the reasons Buckingham Palace was offered was to allow greater opportunity for the King to meet his son during his stay. Harry stayed in a hotel in London, but appeared dismayed when it became clear that the King did not have time to meet him.
A source with knowledge of the offer said: “It makes Harry’s decision to stay in a hotel all the more strange when the Palace would naturally offer all the security you could wish for. It would also have made more sense from a point of view of seeing his father as it would be easier for the King to see his son if they were staying nearby.”
A month after Harry’s trip to London, the palace apartments were used to host the Emperor and Empress of Japan during their state visit.
I find it odd that Charles’s aides made this generous offer of a diplomatic suite in Buckingham Palace with full security and a potential unscheduled meeting between father and son… and yet they couldn’t use this offer as a clapback or explanation at the time. I mean, if this was really what they offered Harry, surely they would have said that back in May when Harry released his statement about the king’s “full program”? Makes it seem like it took those aides three g–damn months to come up with a new lie for why the situation was not their fault. It also makes it seem like Harry takes his security very seriously and he could see ALL of the traps being laid for him and was able to nope out of all of it.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red and Cover Images.
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla walk down the steps to meet guests attending a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, London. Picture date: Wednesday May 8, 2024.,Image: 871229500, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Jordan Pettitt / Avalon
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- King Charles III speaks to guests attending a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, London. Picture date: Wednesday May 8, 2024. PA Photo. See PA story ROYAL Garden.,Image: 871230102, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Jordan Pettitt / Avalon
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- Edinburgh, Scotland, 2 July 2024: King Charles III during the Sovereign’s Garden Party held at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. The party is part of The King’s trip to Scotland for Holyrood Week.,Image: 886704653, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Jane Barlow / Avalon
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- Guests arrive to attend a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, at Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: London, United Kingdom When: 08 May 2024 Credit: Cover Images
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- Guests arrive to attend a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, at Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: London, United Kingdom When: 08 May 2024 Credit: Cover Images
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- Prince Harry Duke of Sussex attending a St Paul’s Cathedral service to mark the Invictus Games’ tenth anniversary in London, UK. Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: London, United Kingdom When: 08 May 2024 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- Guests attend a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, at Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: London, United Kingdom When: 08 May 2024 Credit: Cover Images
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- Guests attend a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, at Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: London, United Kingdom When: 08 May 2024 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, London Featuring: King Charles III Where: London, United Kingdom When: 08 May 2024 Credit: Jordan Pettitt/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
Where’s their proof that anything was offered? Especially coming after all their PR was gloating that PH was snubbed. If there was an offer, did it extend to his security and other personnel that he would need to have around?
I’m going with the narrative that Prince Harry’s security details threat assessment when considering a stay at BP was far too high to risk him staying there.
Agreed. This is the palaces trying to walk back the accusations of stochastic terrorism after the press went off braying about “Why are H&M going to a ‘dangerous country’ but refuse to come to England??”
And the global public clapped back with “Harry knows he’s safer in Colombia *where they assure him and his entourage of high security cooperation* versus in England, where his own petty, jealous, insecure manbaby of a father and a rogue’s gallery of racist, sycophantic courtiers manipulate govt agencies to deny H&M and their kids security; the same entities that reply with rancour and imperious dismissal, even when Harry offers to cover all costs to the govt”.
BP is one of the most heavily guarded buildings in the world. Harry’s security would not have deemed him staying there a threat. This story is BS.
@equality, that was my first thought. If, and that is a big if, this happened, the offer probably didn’t extend to Harry’s team, including his security.
I thought Buckingham Palace was a bit of a construction zone as of late…nevertheless, the King eats every day, no? You can’t invite your son for dinner? Lunch? Tea?
BP is also known to be the most rat-infested of all the royal residences. Not just the media and the men in grey but the actual fur-covered, rodent variety.
Isn’t BP undergoing a years-long asbestos removal and remediation project? Also, like others said, there’s no proof that H & his team were ever offered adequate accommodation and protection at the time of the visit. (See Fastgran comment #8 below about St James offer in May.) Recall Camela’s DailyMail pals gloating about the snubbery? I’ve read about hotels in London that do a fantastic job protecting Middle Eastern crown princes and other high profile people; good choice Harry. Even the lying Times oopsed the truth out, “he is thought to see a distinction between the security risks facing him in Britain and travelling to Colombia with the benefit of the state’s police protection.”
@Kirk – yes, high profile London hotels have the “protecting the safety and privacy of their VIP guests” DOWN.
The constant rewriting and rebriefing does the RF no good. Harry is strategic he knows his birth family well. Proud of his decision to by pass staying at one of their places.
So … random. Really scraping the bottom trying to draw attention from Colombia?
Exactly Molly. Anyway daddio evicted his own son, DIL and grandchildren from Frog more Cottage out of spite so how does this offer, if true, make up for depriving Harry of his UK base?
IF this story was true, If he ever stays at a palace, those rooms would be bugged from top to bottom. I wouldn’t trust a single person in those palaces… he’s much safer in a hotel with his security team nearby and no one from the palace anywhere near him
Is Buckingham Palace presumed to be safe for all dignitaries and visitors or are security sweeps still done like by the secret service? Because if I was Harry i would assume they have bugged the hell out of wherever they invite me to stay.
I hope Harry’s followed Meghan’s lead and kept receipts of what was and wasn’t offered at the time.
If they did offer him a suite at BP, no doubt they can produce the proof even though it’s been several months where they could’ve done just that, but I digress. I’m sure the BP did it’s best, after all, that’s King Charles’ darling boy, right? /s
The statement at the time was he was offered a room at st James palace which opened onto the public area. Harry politely declined. Charles was going to meet with Harry for a brief time then at the last minute decided against it. More mud being thrown at Harry.Karma is going to bite them all big time. Trying to ruin their Columbian visit.
Exactly. This makes wonder why wasn’t BP also mentioned as an option for Harry to stay in their briefings to the press?
Yeah, why didn’t they counter with this at the time? Seems made-up. Either way, Harry is aware of the traps they set. If it was safer for him to stay at a hotel then that’s what he was going to do.
Because it’s total bullshit. The message then was that Harry was being SNUBBED! NO ROOM AT THE INN! HA HA.
Now the headless chickens doing royal work have panicked and realized that they looked like assholes, so they are ret-conning the story to claim that they oh so generously offered him a room. I don’t have time to go back and do a search on the media around Harry’s visit, but I do recall the snub snub snub message.
Yes, so do I.
Oh they are digging very deep to be a**holes about their trip to Colombia with this little nugget of lies. I doubt they offered Harry anything and I doubt he stayed at a hotel because they would have staked that place out. Lies lies lies.
If his dad really wanted to see him, why not invite him to Clarence house, I’m sure they must have at least one spare bedroom.
Wasn’t at the house where Camila turned Harry’s room into her walk-in closet?
Exactly, if you wanted to see your son surely you would offer him a room at your house then you could have dinner together, irrespective of your ‘full schedule’.
sunnyside up, so suddenly BP is ‘prestigious’? It’s been known forever that King Snubby doesn’t want to live there. What makes it so ‘prestigious’ for others? It sounds like they trotted this out to make themselves look good. King Snubby you’re many, many days late and a dollar short.
I don’t believe a word of it.
It’s always my hypothesis that Harry has been invited to stay in Royal properties, but his private security are not. And Harry is smart to be paranoid about that.
Oh, yeah that makes sense.
Wow. Chills. It’s giving Macbeth, tbh.
Imagining now, Diana as Banquo to Harry’s Fleance.
Recalling the line from Shakespeare, “Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly! / Thou mayst revenge.”
Well he’s holding fast on the lawsuits against the press, so he mayst revenge at that.
Yeh, go ahead and tell me that Harry shouldn’t have written Spare because the poor royals, Charles, William, Kate, just have no way of telling their side of the story. Of course, they have these so-called journalist at their beck and call to report whatever lie dujour, but Harry and Meghan should just keep quiet.
What seems strange is that a hotel is considered safer than Buckingham Palace? All kinds of people wander around hotels.
Harry would have had to notify staff when he was coming and leaving BP. Given that the Palace leaks like sieve, he would be safer at a Hotel.
The palace lackeys would have given a Daily Mail ratchet the room next door and bugged Harry’s room. He’s wise not to trust those ghouls.
Mimi, well, Harry has his security with him at the hotel. What are the odds that King Snubby included Harry’s personal security in his invite to stay at any royal property? My guess is the answer is slim to none.
@Mimi, he no doubt stayed at a hotel that caters to VVIPs only, that stakes its entire brand on privacy, discretion and safety (and probably luxury too of course but not the point here!), the staff would have signed NDAs, and Harry’s team would have likely rented out at least an entire floor, if not the whole hotel.
Meanwhile at BP, instead of staff dedicated to protecting his privacy, he would have been surrounded by staff with press on speed dial, ready to leak every last detail, including comings and goings, etc. (and likely doing so at Charles and Cams’ direction, too).
And if the guess about security teams is correct (that they offer to let Harry, and Harry alone, stay at the palaces, and his security has to stay elsewhere), then BP would have been horribly unsafe for Harry.
Which is, frankly, horribly sad as well.
Hotels have dignitaries, princes, celebrities all the time so would have experienced security. Harry also brought his own people. No BP bugs or threats from deranged courtiers.
BP truly losing it now. I know what we think
But I’m curious what other folk in other countries have to say.
He’s not staying at the local Best Western.
I don’t understand. Nobody questions the security inside Buckingham Palace. The question is would Harry have state security if he went outside of BP to attend various functions and also to and from the airport. If not, then why bother to stay at a royal venue where there would be 1,000 prying eyes and ears?
What immediately leapt out of me was that Harry could stay at Buckingham Palace but, there wasn’t a single room spare in Clarence House so a son to stay with his father? Bliddy L the whole place must be full of Camilla’s walk-in wardrobes. Do they not realise how bad this looks?
I, for one, don’t believe that story. My perception of ‘The Times’ is that its the palace’s go to when they want to slander Harry or Meghan (bully bs story) with a bit of credibility. This is a typical diversion.
How convenient that this is leaked on the day Harry and Meghan start their visit to Colombia? Something’s missing from that story because as Kaiser said why couldn’t the Palace give this information in the two weeks that they were briefing against Harry. I can understand why Harry would not want to stay at BP because the chances of his whereabouts being leaked to the press were greater than if he stayed at a hotel.
Exactly. Just the press trying to rain on the Sussexes parade. It shows how threatened the royal family is by the successful Sussex visits.
Cute mention of Harry currently in Colombia for no apparent reason. Except for the fact that this is probably the entire reason for this article. Info on May, possibly untrue given the information in May about Harry’s visit, to pull focus. The invisible contract at work.
To me, this relates back to the post a few days ago in which the courtier admitted they blocked Harry from seeing QE2 after Sussexit. The courtiers blocked (and continue to block) Harry’s access to Charles. I fail to see what concessions they fear Harry will wheedle out of Charles if contact were to occur, but whatever.
Harry knew the BTM would not let his May London visit pass without pressure of a father/son visit. They were waiting like spiders, with their pre-written outrage pieces about abandoning his cancer stricken “father” if no such visit took place.
Harry reached out and was blocked by courtiers. Then he released his own statement, leaving them exposed, and nixing those pre-written outrage stories in the process. BP must have been FURIOUS. They didn’t even appreciate the grace Harry showed them by stating that Charles’s diary was full instead of the real humiliating truth. And now this laughable statement about offering him BP rooms, which is just like performing CPR on a corpse.
It’s sad how they can’t get even the simplest of things right. It’s now August, why bring it up/ talk about it again so people can revisit the fact that you’re a bunch of jerks?
Mel, I’ve often wondered why the bm continues to expose the brf (and the bm) for what they are. The world watches and they can’t get past themselves long enough to realize it.
They accuse his mother of being paranoid. But they never accuse Harry of being paranoid.
The longer this goes on it looks like what happened to Diana was planned. Maybe not by Charles. Maybe he just looked the other way.
Are we really sure he went to a hotel? Harry never said anything, no hotel ever said anything.
Isn’t it possible he is with friends / family in London? The Spencers have property in London.
I’d think that a hotel would like to be discreet about hosting a VIP with special security needs. Especially if they want to do business with him in the future. Harry’s security needs are real!
Hotels like Claridges definitely know how to keep their VIP guests safe and be discreet. It would probably be safer than even, say, Aunt Sarah’s mayfair apartment.
BM now says that Meghan snapped at Harry saying “Hand now”. They are virtually accusing Meghan of bulling Harry. Is there no end to their misogyny.
Of course dm does not mention Charles temper tantrums. Dm tries to demeans both harry and meghan.