LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry is returning to the United Kingdom this week, and as usual, his arrival is generating plenty of attention from the British press.
The son of King Charles III is scheduled to attend several charity events beginning Tuesday. But for many royal observers, the bigger story is whether his wife, Meghan, and their two children — Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet — will be joining him, and whether the young royals will finally get some quality time with their grandfather, King Charles.
British tabloids and television news programs have spent the past 10 days buzzing with speculation about the family’s travel plans, but much remains uncertain as Harry works to secure protection for his family after a government committee declined to approve taxpayer-funded security.
“With just days to go until Harry’s first public engagement in the UK on Tuesday … very little is guaranteed at all,” the Times of London reported Saturday. The Telegraph put it more bluntly: “For Archie and Lilibet to meet the king, it’s now or never.”
Harry, who served in the British Army in Afghanistan, organized the trip partly to mark the one-year countdown to the Invictus Games — the Paralympic-style athletic competition he created to inspire and support military veterans recovering from injuries sustained in combat.
Also drawing attention this week is a Tuesday ruling at the High Court in London, where a judge is set to deliver a verdict in Harry’s privacy lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily Mail.
According to reports sourced from off-the-record briefings and unnamed individuals close to the royal family, the decision about whether to bring the children largely depends on whether the British government agrees to extend security coverage to Harry and his family. This has been a recurring issue every time the prince has returned to Britain since he and Meghan relocated to North America six years ago.
British authorities have maintained that Harry is not entitled to automatic protection because he is no longer an active working member of the royal family, and that his security needs will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, as they would be for any high-profile celebrity. Harry, however, argues that his children cannot safely travel to Britain without protection, as their royal status continues to make them targets.
The decision on security rests with a government committee called Ravec, which determines who qualifies for state-funded protection.
The outcome could create headaches for the royal family, which has been trying to demonstrate its public value amid months of damaging headlines about the connections between the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the former Prince Andrew, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
Royal commentator Tina Brown weighed in on the situation on X, writing: “In the paranoid atmosphere of waiting for more Andrew shoes to drop, Ravec and the royals themselves are terrified of public blowback if taxpayers are asked to fund protection for the House of Sussex. The issue is not a hill that either the king or the government wants to die on, and who can blame them?”
Early reports suggested that Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, would be making the trip, but those plans appeared to fall apart after the Daily Telegraph reported that Ravec had once again turned down Harry’s request for protection.
The Times of London reported that Harry was described as “distraught” following the decision and told friends he would not allow his children to be “chased by paparazzi” through the streets of London.
By Sunday, it had become apparent that Meghan and the children would not be with Harry when he arrives in London on Monday, though there remained some possibility they could join him at a later point during the visit.
Despite the security dispute, Harry has expressed a desire to repair his relationship with his 77-year-old father, who is currently receiving treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer. Harry has also said he wants his children — who first encountered the king during the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022 — to now spend meaningful time with their grandfather while they are old enough to form lasting memories of the experience.
Relations within the royal family have been strained since Harry and Meghan stepped back from royal duties and moved to California to pursue media opportunities outside the constraints of life as working royals.
Things deteriorated further after Harry released a tell-all memoir containing unflattering portrayals of royal family members and serious allegations about the damaging relationship between the monarchy and the British press.
Among the more explosive claims in his book, titled “Spare,” was the accusation that members of the royal family leaked information about one another to journalists in exchange for favorable coverage. Harry was particularly critical of Queen Camilla, alleging she shared private conversations with the media as part of an effort to improve her public image following her long-running affair with Charles while he was heir to the throne.
After losing a legal battle over the security issue last year, Harry expressed hope for a family reconciliation, while also suggesting that the royals had tried to block him from receiving police protection as punishment for stepping away from his royal role.
“I would love reconciliation with my family. There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore,” Harry told the BBC. “I don’t know how much longer my father has.”
