A royal source has claimed the monarch’s ‘patience snapped’ earlier this week during a back and forth battle with the Duke of Sussex over his claims he would be accepting an offer to stay in the London Palace
Prince Harry and King Charles engaged in a public war of words over the offer of royal accommodation for the Duke (Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
King Charles was reportedly challenged ‘beyond endurance’ earlier this week when back and forth bickering broke out between Prince Harry and Buckingham Palace over his accommodation offer.
On Monday, hours before the Duke of Sussex arrived in his home country, a series of statements were released from the Sussex camp and the Palace, after Harry claimed he had accepted the monarch’s offer to stay in the London residence. However, within a matter of minutes, the Palace issued a statement of their own saying that the accommodation offer had been withdrawn as it was no longer feasible for Harry to stay.
Prince Harry arrived in the UK on Monday night after a row with the Palace over his accommodation(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
More statements from both Harry and the Palace were then issued, each of them defending their position in the royal accommodation row. In the end, it was revealed that during his few days in London, the Duke would be staying in private accommodation.
As a result of the back and forth arguments, a royal aide told The Sun that the King lost his patience over the matter, and refused to bend to Harry’s demands.
The source told the publication: “The King’s patience snapped. He wants to be a loving father and grandfather but that was being tested beyond endurance. He is not willing to be pushed around, nor to indulge a constant state of chaos.”
When the visit to the UK was first announced, the Mirror reported that Harry had been offered to stay in a royal residence while in his home country by invitation of the King, with Buckingham Palace being on offer.
A source claims the King ‘snapped’ over Harry’s demands (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
It is believed that when Harry’s security measures were thrown into disarray, he held off on accepting the offer, unsure whether the trip would still take place as planned.
However, the Palace shared that the prince had simply waited too long to accept the offer to have appropriate arrangements in place, meaning they had no choice but to revoke the accommodation.
Buckingham Palace has 240 bedrooms, with 52 of these reserved for royals and their guests. To keep things running smoothly and safely, a number of staff and security are required to be present when a member of the Royal Family is staying in the Palace.
According to a royal source, the London residence required a minimum level of notice so a guest may be hosted appropriately. Given Harry reportedly left it to the last minute to accept the offer, it was withdrawn.
Harry undertook his first engagement of his five-day visit yesterday (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Harry arrived in the UK on Monday evening, and just hours later was spotted at a film premiere in Central London, as he was photographed at the ‘Shoot The People’ UK Premiere in the VIP arrivals section.
The film, playing at Picturehouse Central, centred around Harry’s friend Misan Harriman, the chairman of the Southbank Centre, with whom he smiled alongside as they posed for photos.
On Tuesday, Harry headed out for his first engagement during his five-day visit to his home country, as he made his way to Central London for an Invictus Games Foundation event at Chatham House.
The private conference was a key part of the “One Year to Go” celebrations for the Invictus Games being staged in Birmingham in 2027, with the event bringing together members of the Invictus community.
While at the event, Harry was dealt a major blow as it was announced that he lost his High Court case against Associated Newspapers Limited: the publishers of the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday.
The Duke of Sussex, Sir Elton John and others’ claims over alleged unlawful information gathering by the publisher were dismissed by a High Court judge, as Mr Justice Nicklin said in his ruling that Harry “has limited evidence to give on the contentious matters”.
Following the announcement of the verdict, a statement was released from Harry and Baroness Doreen Lawrence, which read: “We came to Court seeking justice and accountability. But we have received neither.” They added that they believed the result was “a complete and obvious whitewash, but sadly not altogether unexpected.”
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