Prince Harry is reconsidering plans to bring his wife, Meghan, and their two children to the UK next month after being told on Friday that no taxpayer-funded security would be provided for them, leaving the duke reportedly ‘distraught.’
The trip from the family’s home in California was set to mark their first UK visit in four years, with Harry due to attend celebrations launching the one-year countdown to the Invictus Games in Birmingham in July 2027. He also planned to visit two charities he supports, WellChild and Scotty’s Little Soldiers.
“Prince Harry is reconsidering a July UK trip with his family after being denied taxpayer-funded security for his wife and children.”
Most personally, he intended to take his children, Archie and Lilibet, to visit the grave of his mother, Princess Diana, for the first time. Diana was buried on an island in the ornamental Round Oval Lake at the Althorp Estate after her death in a Paris car crash in August 1997. The visit would have taken place in the days after what would have been her 65th birthday.
But according to reports, those plans are now being reevaluated after the security decision, which was communicated two days after details of the visit were announced. The BBC reported that the duke was ‘distraught’ at the decision but ‘would still like to find a way to make the trip work.’
Harry’s security in the UK has been a major sticking point since he stepped down as a working royal in 2020. His entitlement to protection changed, and last year he lost a legal battle to overturn that downgrade. Worries about safety were a major factor in his previous decisions about bringing his wife and children. Reports had claimed the Sussexes were given assurances that meant Harry’s concerns were mitigated, but the latest decision has upended those expectations.
Archie and Lilibet have not seen their grandfather, the King, since the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. Harry last saw his father in September last year, when they met for tea at Clarence House – their first face-to-face meeting since February 2024.
The BBC said a final decision on the family’s UK trip will be made in the coming days.