People are now saying that Prince Harry successfully exposed King Charles and his courtiers’ plans to disrupt the Sussexes’ plans for their UK visit. While the rot deep within the royal institution has absolutely been exposed, I don’t think that was Harry’s original intention, or his intention at any point of planning this visit. I think Harry has been genuinely shocked by just how thoroughly he’s been screwed over at every turn – RAVEC refusing to grant him security for the Invictus One Year To Go events, RAVEC pausing Harry’s risk assessment months ago and only informing him two Fridays ago, the lack of communication with his father’s office and now this, his father’s office rescinding their offer to allow Harry to stay at Buckingham Palace because Harry decided too late to stay there. Exacerbating this situation, BP and Kensington Palace have been furiously issuing often-contradictory briefings about the visit for weeks, and that’s an ongoing issue. Well, Harry did the thing he always does when he’s getting screwed over by his father: he issued a statement via his spokesperson.
Harry’s team had spent several days exploring ways they could make the visit work, with increased private security packages. However, palace sources, who said he had until the end of last week to accept the accommodation offer, have now claimed that he initially declined the invitation to stay there, before accepting it later on Saturday.
A spokesman for Prince Harry said in a statement on Monday, July 6, “I am aware of multiple briefings from Buckingham Palace last week suggesting that the Duke had not accepted the offer of accommodation at a Royal Residence.”
“Following RAVEC’s decision not to provide security for his family, the Duke spent last week making alternative security arrangements. Once those arrangements were in place, he was able to formally accept the offer of accommodation for himself over the weekend,” the spokesperson added.
“It is therefore disappointing that the offer has now been withdrawn, with Tuesday’s judgment in the Associated Newspapers Limited case cited as the reason. Buckingham Palace has, however, been aware of that judgment since last Thursday. It is therefore unclear why, having formally accepted the accommodation offer, it has now been withdrawn at the last moment,” the statement continued.
Royal sources said that Prince Harry had until the end of last week to accept the offer, so that the Royal Household staff could prepare for him. It is believed that he declined the invitation on Saturday, July 4 and then accepted later on in the day. The statement followed a morning of confusion. Initially, it was reported by the BBC that Harry was to stay at Buckingham Palace, attributing that report to his spokesman. However, the palace then said that this was not correct.
As I said in my earlier story, I hope this is a breaking point for Harry in particular. I hope everything changes for him about how he deals with his father and these pitiful people. This was not Harry setting a trap for Charles, it was the opposite. Charles’ intention from the start was to publicly humiliate Harry and “put Harry in his place.” I hope Harry sees that now. Additionally, per Tom Sykes’ Royalist Substack, sources close to Harry are now saying that the offer of royal accommodation was always “an elaborate set-up,” which is pretty hard to argue with:
Prince Harry just went nuclear on his family, accusing the royals of an elaborate set-up, and suggesting that the Palace’s offer to him of a bed for the night was made in bad faith and was never intended to be honored.
Sources close to the Duke of Sussex said Monday, as the argument hit fever pitch, that the palace’s explanations for withdrawing Harry’s invitation to stay at Buckingham Palace did not add up. Harry, via sources, is accusing the palace of cynically laying a trap for him: dangling a royal residence in front of him only to snatch it away, presumably for the sheer men-in-grey-suits villainy of it all.
…His camp have, however conceded they only formally accepted the palace’s offer on Saturday evening. In other words, even Harry’s own version of events concedes the central point of the palace’s case: that he sat on the invitation for days and accepted it at the last possible moment, at the weekend, for a stay beginning within about 48 hours.
To be scrupulously fair to the Sussex side, their strongest point is about consistency. The reasons given for the withdrawal of the offer, they note correctly, do appear to have shifted: last week the palace line was simply that Harry had not accepted the accommodation; now Tuesday’s High Court judgment in the Associated Newspapers case is being cited as a complicating factor, despite the palace having known the judgment date since Thursday.
The thing no one will say is whether Harry knew the invitation had a ticking clock attached to it. In any case, if it hadn’t been this, it would have been something else. Charles would have found some way to withdraw the invitation and screw over Harry in some way. Learn from this, Harry. I’ve defended his right to maintain some kind of relationship with his only living parent, but I genuinely hope this has all been one big come-to-Jesus moment for Harry. There’s no changing Charles, there’s no changing William. They’re both awful and neither care about you whatsoever.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.
