Palace tells Harry: You can’t stay here

The Duke of Sussex has been told he can no longer stay at Buckingham Palace, throwing his forthcoming visit into chaos.

Prince Harry’s team revealed on Monday morning that he had accepted an offer to stay at the royal residence.

But only minutes after that decision had been announced, and just hours before the Duke was due to arrive in the UK, a palace source indicated that the invitation had been accepted too late.

The decision to rescind the Duke’s invitation to stay at Buckingham Palace was made in consultation with the King, it was understood.

The eleventh-hour developments have thrown the trip into chaos.

The Duke was said to have formally declined the offer to stay at Buckingham Palace on Saturday, before changing his mind and accepting the invitation.

However, palace sources said that, by then, the appropriate hospitality and staffing provision was no longer available, as the household required a minimum period of notice.

As of Monday morning, however, the Duke was seemingly unaware this was the case.

Another complicating issue had been that the High Court ruling on the Duke’s privacy claim against the publisher of the Daily Mail is due to be handed down on Tuesday. There were fears that could “compromise” the King if his son was staying at a royal residence.

The court’s decision to publish the ruling just as the Duke makes his first public appearance in the UK in six months was made public last Thursday.

A palace source said on Monday that the timing had added “a further degree of complexity” to the specific dates requested.

A spokesman for the Duke said the withdrawal of the offer was “disappointing”, not least as the palace had been aware of the High Court’s schedule for several days.

On Saturday, it was confirmed that after days of hand-wringing, the Duchess of Sussex and their two children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, would not accompany the Duke to London after taxpayer-funded police protection was denied.

It remains unclear whether they will now travel at all.

The impending visit had already caused tensions with the palace over multiple last-minute changes, briefings and counter-briefings.