Harry's security row blocks Meghan and children from UK visit

Meghan, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet were not expected to join Prince Harry on his latest trip to Britain, with security concerns again shaping the family’s movements and the terms of any reunion with King Charles III. Buckingham Palace said the visit at Highgrove House was private and that no details or photographs would be released. The trip was tied to the Invictus Games, but the unresolved fight over police protection continued to overshadow it.

The dispute dates to 2020, when the U.K. Home Office decided that Harry would no longer automatically receive personal police security during visits to Britain after he stepped back from royal duties and moved to the United States with Meghan. Harry challenged that arrangement and lost his Court of Appeal case in May 2025, ending his latest legal effort to restore full protection. The question at the center of the row remains unchanged: whether Harry and his family can safely come to Britain without automatic taxpayer-funded police protection.

After the ruling, Harry said he was “devastated” and would “struggle to forgive” the decision. He also said King Charles “won’t speak” to him because of the security fight, a sign of how closely the protection issue has become bound up with the state of the royal relationship. Harry has said he wants “reconciliation” with the Royal Family, but the dispute over risk, responsibility and public funding has made that far harder to reach.

The latest trip underscored that tension. Harry had planned the U.K. visit around the Invictus Games, but reports said Meghan and the couple’s two children were not expected to accompany him because of security concerns. For Harry, that meant another visit home without his immediate family at his side. For the Palace, it meant managing a private Highgrove House meeting while keeping the details sealed off from public view.

What began as an administrative decision after Harry left royal life has become the central obstacle in a family rift that now reaches from the Court of Appeal to the gates of Highgrove. The dispute over protection has not only determined how Harry travels in Britain, it has also helped decide who in his family can travel with him.