Harry Rejects King Charles’ Offer to Stay at Royal Residence, Experts Call It a 'Poisonous Split'

Prince Harry’s decision to turn down an offer of stay at a royal residence during his recent visit to the UK has been deemed by experts as proof of a ‘poisonous split’ within the royal family. The Duke of Sussex returned to the UK earlier this month to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Invictus Games but opted to stay in a hotel.

As per Mirror, Royal author, Tom Quinn, explained, "In the run-up to his recent UK visit Harry was offered a suite of rooms at a Royal residence and his decision to turn down the offer speaks volumes about the poisonous split with his father. Turning the offer down also gave Harry the chance to remind everyone how angry he still is that he and his family are not given official security protection in the UK. He insists he chose to stay in a hotel rather than one of his father’s palaces because he would be less noticeable and less at risk. This may make sense to Harry but to the rest of us, the idea that a hotel is more secure than a royal palace makes no sense at all. Harry’s bizarre claim is just unconvincing. Harry just doesn’t want to admit that he wants to avoid any risk of bumping into any of the senior royals. Avoid the palaces and you avoid the family."

During his trip, Harry reportedly requested to meet his father. However, the request was denied due to King Charles’ hectic schedule. A spokesperson revealed,  "The duke of course is understanding of his father's diary of commitments and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon." In light of the same, Roya Nikkhah shared her thoughts on a podcast. She opined, "All the narrative from the moment he [Harry] touched down...we got that statement from Harry's spokesperson saying it's not possible for Harry to see his father as he is too busy which he completely understands...That set the mood music for the whole week...I just thought something didn't feel quite right about this, so I dug away a bit deeper and found out that actually, Harry had asked if he could stay and Charles had said yes, come and stay son. You come and stay in a royal residence, you are near where I am so it's going to be much easier for me to see you given what's going on with my diary and your diary."

As per the New York Post, insiders revealed that “It’s all very sad. 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, and at very short notice. 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 recollections may vary once again.”

During his time in London, Harry also did not meet with his brother, Prince William, or his sister-in-law, Kate Middleton. The prince left London shortly after his Invictus Games commitments and flew to Nigeria to reunite with his wife, Meghan Markle. Rumor has it, that Harry was furious to hear that his brother, William, was given the new military rank of Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps by Charles, the same day he landed in the UK, as he was the one who trained as an Army Air Corps member and deployed to Afghanistan.