Prince Harry to visit London without wife, children

LONDON: Prince Harry will not be accompanied by his wife Meghan and their two children when he visits London as part of a trip to the UK next week, a source close to him told AFP Saturday.

The prince had previously been expected to make his first family trip back to the UK in four years, but the source close to the Duke of Sussex said his wife, son Archie and daughter Lilibet would not accompany him on the London part of the trip.

Arrangements for the rest of the trip are still under consideration, the source said, leaving it unclear whether the whole family would visit but stay outside the capital.

Harry, 41, is visiting next week to mark the one-year countdown towards next year’s Invictus Games, launched by the prince in 2014 for wounded veterans. The games will be held from July 10 to 17, 2027.

The prince was also expected to attend engagements with his other charities during the multi-day visit this month.

The Sun newspaper reported Saturday that Harry and his family were currently in Europe and were still hoping to make the trip to the UK “in some form”.

The tabloid reported, citing a source, that Harry and Meghan had planned to visit a London hospital together in her first such engagement since leaving the UK, but he would now go alone “for security reasons”.

A source close to the prince said last month that he and his family would stay at royal residences, and the BBC reported that they would be guests of King Charles III.

Last year, Harry expressed concerns about his family’s safety in the UK, after losing a court case to have full police protection restored during UK visits.

“It’s impossible for me to take my family back to the UK safely,” he told the BBC then.

While the security arrangements for July’s visit remained unclear, the BBC reported that Buckingham Palace had not offered any extra security for the trip.

Harry and Meghan left Britain for North America in 2020 and stepped back from royal duties amid a bitter feud with the family, which worsened in the following years as Harry published his tell-all memoir “Spare” and was embroiled in legal battles in the UK.

The king’s younger son has said he would like to reconcile with his father, but it is unclear whether the two will meet during the visit.

He is last believed to have briefly met with his 77-year-old father, who is being treated for an undisclosed cancer, at the king’s Clarence House residence in London in September 2025.