The drama that seems to surround Prince Harry returns to the UK this week, with the British press buzzing with anticipation.
King Charles' wayward son is travelling to the land of his birth for a series of charity engagements that begin on Tuesday. But for most royal watchers that’s just background noise.
For the past 10 days, British tabloids and news broadcasts have been filled with speculation about whether Harry’s wife, Meghan, will accompany him and, more importantly, whether they will bring their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, so they can finally get to know Grandpa Charles.
But everything is up in the air as Harry seeks to arrange protection for his family after a government committee refused to authorise taxpayer-funded security.
“With just days to go until Harry’s first public engagement in the UK on Tuesday … very little is guaranteed at all,” the Times of London reported on Saturday.
“For Archie and Lilibet to meet the king, it’s now or never,’’ wrote the Telegraph.
Harry planned the visit to mark a year before the Invictus Games, the Paralympic-style competition he founded for military veterans as they work to overcome battlefield injuries.
Not on the official schedule is a High Court decision in London on Tuesday, where the judge will reveal his verdict in Harry’s invasion of privacy lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily Mail.
The decision about whether to bring the children, according to reports based on off-the-record briefings, hinges on whether the UK government agrees to provide security for Harry and his family.
It is an issue that has hung over every trip the prince has made to Britain since he and Meghan decamped to North America six years ago.
British authorities say Harry isn’t entitled to blanket protection because he is no longer a working member of the royal family and they will assess his security on a case-by-case basis.
Harry says it is unsafe for his children to travel to Britain without protection because his family remains a target by virtue of their royal status.
The decision rests with a government committee known as Ravec.
The outcome could be problematic for the royal family, which is trying to show that it provides value for money after months of embarrassing headlines about the links between the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the former Prince Andrew, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
After initial reports that Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, would visit the UK, plans began to wobble after the Daily Telegraph reported that Ravec had again rejected Harry’s request for protection.
The Times of London reported Harry was “distraught” after the decision and told friends he wouldn’t let his children be “chased by paparazzi” through the streets of London.
By Sunday, it was clear that the family wouldn’t accompany Harry when he arrives in London on Monday, though there was still a chance they would join him later in the trip.
Nonetheless, Harry has said that he wants to reconcile with his father, who is being treated for cancer.
“I would love reconciliation with my family. There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore,” Harry told the BBC.
“I don’t know how much longer my father has.”
