King Charles offered Prince Harry a royal residence for last week’s trip to London but the olive branch was turned down by his son, according to reports.
The Duke of Sussex is thought to have chosen instead to stay in a hotel during his three-day visit, the Sunday Times reported.
Friends of King Charles said that staying in a royal residence would have made the logistics of a visit by Harry to see his father easier.
But those close to 39-year-old Harry, who flew to the UK to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Invictus Games, claim he put in a request to see his father well in advance of the visit, which had been in the diary for some time.
The Duke of Sussex (pictured) is thought to have chosen instead to stay in a hotel during his three-day visit
King Charles (pictured) offered Prince Harry a royal residence for last week’s trip to London but the olive branch was turned down by his son, according to reports
The friends told the newspaper that when Harry wants to travel to the UK he must give 28 days’ warning to both the King, 75, and the Home Office so that security can be arranged.
Members of the King’s circle responded that, to the best of their understanding, Harry neither made a request to see his father nor invited him to attend the service at St Paul’s last Tuesday to celebrate the charity’s anniversary.
Harry and Charles’s failure to meet on a rare trip by the Duke to the UK is said to have puzzled the Duke’s camp, particularly as the King, who is recovering from cancer, made time to attend a Buckingham Palace garden party on Wednesday afternoon.
‘It’s all very sad,’ a friend of Charles told the newspaper. ‘While it is true that the King is understandably wary about meeting with Harry, given the publicity circus that seems to surround all such visits, he did of course agree to see his son at the most vulnerable moment of his illness [in February], and at very short notice.
Invictus Games Foundation chief executive Dominic Reid (left) and Prince Harry at the Honourable Artillery Company in London on May 7
King Charles held the first garden party of the season at Buckingham Palace with Queen Camilla by his side on May 8
Prince Harry pictured meeting Louise Minchin at the Invictus Games event at Armoury House on May 7
‘While he was hardly going to roll out the red carpet the moment this Invictus trip was announced, with doctors advising him to focus on his treatment and recovery, the idea that he refused to find space in his diary… well, let’s say recollection may vary once again.’
A friend of Harry’s told the newspaper: ‘I can’t imagine that request [from Harry to Charles] fell through the gaps. Even if they didn’t get a request, which I don’t believe, could His Majesty have not made a request to see his son?’
The missed opportunity is thought to have stung the Duke, according to a friend who spent time with him in London last week.
‘It surprises me a lot. I was fully expecting them to meet. I know that’s what he wanted to happen,’ he said.