Prince
Harry may cancel UK family visit after being refused police protection
Sussexes
trip to Britain in balance after government declines request for
taxpayer-funded security
Josh
Halliday
Sun 28
Jun 2026 10.14 BST
The Duke
of Sussex is understood to be reconsidering plans to bring his wife and
children to the UK next month after his request for taxpayer-funded police
protection was rejected.
Prince
Harry and Meghan were planning their first trip to Britain as a family in four
years for events related to the Invictus Games, due to be held in Birmingham in
July.
Prince
Harry was last week said to be “excited” for Prince Archie, seven, and Princess
Lilibet, five, to be reunited with King Charles during the visit. However, the
family trip now appears uncertain after the government declined his request for
police protection outside royal residences.
A
government spokesperson said on Sunday: “The UK government’s protective
security system is rigorous and proportionate. It is our longstanding policy
not to provide detailed information on those arrangements, as doing so could
compromise their integrity and affect individuals’ security.”
Harry was
said to be “distraught” about the decision, made just days before the family
was due to arrive, but was reportedly keen to find a way to make the trip work.
A
spokesperson for the Sussexes has been contacted for comment.
Last year
Harry lost a legal battle against the Home Office concerning automatic police
protection while in the UK, having previously claimed it was not safe to bring
his family without it.
He has
since been granted a full risk assessment and had been awaiting a final
decision from the royal and VIP executive committee (Ravec), the Home Office
committee responsible for authorising such protection.
Ravec
decisions are taken by an independent chair and its membership includes the
royal household, Home Office, Cabinet Office and Metropolitan Police.
The home
secretary, in this case Shabana Mahmood, does not contribute to individual
Ravec decisions.
Harry met
his father last September at Clarence House in London, their first face-to-face
meeting since February 2024. It was seen as a first step in improving relations
between them.
Charles
has not seen his youngest grandchildren in person since 2022, during the late
Queen Elizabeth II’s platinum jubilee celebrations.
It is not
known if the king was planning to meet the children during next month’s visit.
However, Harry has reportedly told friends in the US he was excited for his
children to reconnect with their paternal grandfather.
An
LA-based business associate of Harry and Meghan, who live in Montecito,
California, told the Telegraph there had been a “warming of the frost” between
the king and his youngest son after Harry’s public attacks in his memoir,
Spare, and television interviews.
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