Prince Harry reportedly could have stayed in a royal residence on his U.K. visit last week, but chose to stay in a hotel instead.
Friends of King Charles' told the Sunday Times' royal editor Roya Nikkhah that he had agreed to let the Duke of Sussex stay in an unspecified royal home, after the latter requested to. But despite his request being accommodated, Harry apparently declined the offer, though it's unclear why.
The King's youngest son made the request following his eviction from his former U.K. home base at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor last year.
The duke's brief visit to his home country made waves after it emerged that Charles had declined to meet with him, citing an over-full schedule.
Many royal commentators saw this move on the monarch's part as a deliberate "snub" towards his youngest son, but the matter of the proffered royal residence complicates things further.
A spokesperson for Harry implied in a statement that the duke had wanted to see his father, but that Charles had no time to spare for him.
However, the King's friends who spoke to the Times pointed out that if Harry had stayed in a royal home, it would have been easier for him to see his dad. (Let's note, though, that this would only be true if the home Harry was offered was—if not the exact one Charles was currently in residence at—at the very least a neighboring one. There are many royal residences.)
"It’s all very sad," one source told Nikkhah. "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."
After the King revealed his cancer diagnosis in February, Harry jumped on a transatlantic plane to see him, though he was only granted a 45-minute audience at the time.
"While [Charles] 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 recollections may vary once again," the friend added.
Charles' friends also alleged that Harry had not asked to see the King nor invited him to the ceremony celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the Invictus Games—despite previous reports that Harry had invited Charles, as well as Prince William and Princess Kate, to the event. These reports also claimed that the King had ordered senior royals to attend his Buckingham Palace garden party instead.
By contrast, friends of Harry's told the Times that he had requested to see his father long before the visit, and that the King will have been well aware of his arrival, if only given the advance notice Harry needs to provide to ensure he is provided security in the U.K.
"I can’t imagine that request [from Harry to Charles] fell through the gaps," said a friend of the duke's. "Even if they didn’t get a request, which I don’t believe, could His Majesty not have made a request to see his son? It was widely known he was coming."
Another Sussex friend said, "It surprises me a lot. I was fully expecting them to meet. I know that’s what he wanted to happen and I don’t know when he’s next back."
Many royal fans thought the two men would in fact meet, since they seemed on a path towards reconciliation in recent months.
But given the frosty reception Harry (as well as his wife Meghan Markle) has received on recent visits to the U.K., we could be awaiting his next trip over for a long while.
Meanwhile, the Sussexes appear to have been received with open arms on their trip to Nigeria, where they flew directly after Harry's time in the U.K.
