King Charles offered royal accommodations to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan Markle, and their family for a July visit to the United Kingdom. Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, has not responded to the offer as the visit nears, and the planned trip would be the first time the family has returned to Harry's home country since June 2022.
The offer comes after years in which Harry and Meghan have lived in California with Archie and Lilibet. It also lands against a security dispute that has never been fully settled for the family’s time in Britain.
June 19 and the offer
reported on June 19 that King Charles had made the accommodation offer. By then, there had been no response, leaving the practical question of where Harry, Meghan, Archie, and Lilibet would stay during the July trip still open.
That detail is not cosmetic. The Sussex family had previously been offered accommodations at Buckingham Palace during trips to the U.K. but had declined. A fresh offer from King Charles puts the decision back in the family’s hands while the visit date is approaching.
Harry's security dispute
Harry has treated safety as the central issue for years. In 2023, he said, “The U.K. is my home. The U.K. is central to the heritage of my children and a place I want them to feel at home as much as where they live at the moment in the United States.” He added, “That cannot happen if there is no possibility to keep them safe when they are on U.K. soil.”
He also said, “I can't put my wife in danger like that, and given my experiences in life, I'm reluctant to unnecessarily put myself in harm's way too.” Last year, he lost an appeal in a U.K. court over the level of security he and his family are entitled to while spending time in Britain, after his security was downgraded in 2020 when he stepped back from royal life and duties.
United Kingdom visit in July
The July trip would be the first visit for the Sussex family since June 2022, when the family of four joined a celebration for Queen Elizabeth II's 70-year reign. Meghan was last in the United Kingdom in September 2022 for Queen Elizabeth's funeral.
What happens next now depends on two separate choices: whether Harry and Meghan accept the royal accommodations and how security is handled for the visit. Those decisions will determine whether the family returns to Britain with a set place to stay and with the protection Harry has been pressing for since leaving royal life in 2020.
