Palace

July 6 (UPI) — A confusing situation played out Monday in the British royal family, as a representative for Prince Harry first said the prince had accepted an invitation to stay at the royal residence for one night — only for royal authorities to announce that he was not welcome after all.

Representatives for both Prince Harry, the duke of Sussex, and Buckingham Palace had different stories about the events leading up to the about-face, BBC News reported.

Prince Harry arrived Monday for a weeklong stay in Britain, with his family possibly arriving later this week.

The prince’s camp said Buckingham Palace withdrew an offer that had been formally accepted. The palace, however, said it offered accommodation to the prince, who did not confirm if he would accept and then declined the offer, only to change his mind later that day. By then, the palace said, it was too late to make arrangements, The Guardian reported.

Prince Harry, his wife, Meghan Markle, and their children, Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, live in California. The prince and his wife stepped back from the role of senior royals in 2020.

Tension between the prince (the younger son of King Charles III) and other members of the royal family has continued, although Harry and King Charles met last year for a conversation. This trip was expected to be the first time his children met their grandfather since 2022.

Harry is in Britain to promote various charities and the 2027 Invictus Games for injured military personnel and veterans around the world. The games are expected to take place in Birmingham, where the prince will travel later this week.

Originally, the duke of Sussex’s entire family was going to travel to both London and Birmingham, but the government declined his request for a security detail outside royal residences. Meghan and the children may meet the prince in Birmingham for the second half of the trip. It was not clear if they would meet the king.

Buckingham Palace says Prince Harry will not be staying at the palace for part of his visit to London this week, despite his team announcing this morning that he had accepted an invitation to do so.

Royal sources say the duke had not formally responded to the offer of accommodation at a royal residence by the deadline, which was the end of last week, and was told over the weekend that he could no longer stay at Buckingham Palace.

It is understood that the palace requires a minimum notice period to ensure a guest can be hosted and staff from the Royal Household provided.

A spokesperson for Prince Harry said that despite their earlier statement they understood that the offer to stay at the palace had now been “withdrawn” – a decision they described as “disappointing”.

In Buckingham Palace’s version of events, there was an offer for Prince Harry to stay at the palace, but the Sussex team had failed to confirm whether to accept and had then declined.

According to the Palace, the Duke’s team accepted to stay there later, but it was too late to make arrangements.

The Palace says that this decision was communicated to Prince Harry.

There were also concerns about the prince staying in the palace when a court result about his claims against Associated Newspapers was being published on Tuesday.

In response, a spokesman for the Duke of Sussex described the situation differently, claiming Buckingham Palace had withdrawn an offer that had been formally accepted.

The Sussex version of events said that the timing of the court case result was already known last week and rejected it as being a factor.

“It is therefore unclear why, having formally accepted the accommodation offer, it has now been withdrawn at the last moment,” said the spokesman for the Duke of Sussex.

This acrimonious war of words is a row that shows how much distrust and poor communication exists between the two camps – the Sussex team and Buckingham Palace.

Both sides are putting out contradictory versions of the invitation to stay at Buckingham Palace – with no sign of either side accepting the other’s account.

This could make a meeting between King Charles and Prince Harry, which had been expected this week, even more complicated.

It was only a couple of weeks after beating Manchester City in the FA Cup final at Wembley that Palace were hit with a devastating sucker-punch.

It was early July and south London was eagerly anticipating the prospect of Selhurst Park hosting Europa League football for the first time.

But after Uefa deemed Palace to have breached its multi-club ownership rules – with American businessman John Textor holding stakes in both the Eagles and French side Lyon, who had also qualified for the Europa League – Glasner’s team were demoted to the Conference League.

The shock verdict threatened to suck the life out of Palace’s success before the new season had even began, with Parish describing it as “probably one of the greatest injustices that has ever happened in European football” before an ultimately unsuccessful appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

After a 120-year wait for a first major trophy, however, it was going to take more than that to dampen Palace’s spirits.

The Eagles showed no signs of feeling sorry for themselves when starting the new season by defeating Premier League champions Liverpool in the Community Shield in the now-familiar surroundings of Wembley.

But the turbulence continued with the departure of talisman Eberechi Eze, who left for a record fee to join Arsenal after five years at Selhurst Park.

And they nearly also have had to cope with the loss of star defender and captain Marc Guehi had Glasner not intervened.

The England international was all set to rubber-stamp a move to Liverpool until Palace pulled the plug late on deadline day after a move for his intended replacement – Brighton’s Igor Julio – failed to materialise.

After Guehi’s move to fell through – which would have brought Palace a fee in excess of £35m for a player in the final 12 months of his contract – the lines between Glasner and Parish appeared to blur.

It was reported that the Austrian manager, also in the final year of his deal at Selhurst Park, had threatened to quit if Parish had sanctioned Guehi’s move to Merseyside.

Glasner was left frustrated that Palace, preparing for their debut European campaign – which would include at least six additional games in the league phase of the competition – seemed willing to sanction departures rather than retain and strengthen the squad they already had.

It was clear tensions were rising behind the scenes at Selhurst Park.

British anti-royals have staged a ‘No Kings’ protest outside Buckingham Palace in London, chanting “Down with the Crown” and calling for an elected head of state.

On their impressive European run, Palace have shown they are not just about individuals, but a team stepping up when it matters.

Japan midfielder Kamada had not scored since October 2024 before his composed finish on Thursday restored Palace’s lead just as Shakhtar looked to be taking control following their equaliser at 1-1.

Palace fans were in great spirits before the match in Krakow, and there’s a feeling that all connected with the club are pulling in the same direction.

There could be an air of sadness for the remainder of the campaign with boss Glasner, who led Palace to a fairytale FA Cup victory last season, just two games away from European glory before he departs this summer.

But spirits instead seem high as the club work together to achieve the goal of winning more silverware.

“It’s an amazing group of people, of men, of characters,” said Glasner, who won the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022.

“There is such a big spirit and great togetherness and we always believe in ourselves.

“There is no button we can press to switch it on. It is something we have created over months and years – that we know we can always come back and score a goal.”