Prince Harry to visit London without Meghan and children

Prince Harry will travel to London next week without Meghan and their two children after concerns over security changed plans for what had been expected to be the family’s first trip to the U.K. together in four years.

The Duchess of Sussex, Archie and Lilibet will not join Harry for the London portion of the visit, a source close to the Duke of Sussex told AFP. The BBC reported that the change followed confirmation that the family would not receive taxpayer-funded police security while in the capital.

Harry, 41, is due in the U.K. for a multiday visit tied to the one-year countdown to the 2027 Invictus Games, the international sporting event he launched in 2014 for wounded veterans. The Games are scheduled to take place from July 10 to 17, 2027. He is also expected to attend engagements connected to other charities.

The revised schedule means Meghan will not accompany Harry to the Royal Hospital Chelsea on Wednesday for meetings related to the Invictus Games. He will attend alone. The Sun reported, citing a source, that the couple had planned to visit a London hospital together in what would have been Meghan’s first such engagement since leaving the U.K., but that Harry would now go alone “for security reasons.”

Plans for the rest of the trip remain unsettled. The BBC reported that Meghan and the children could still join Harry later in the week when the visit moves to Birmingham to promote the Invictus Games. Discussions are continuing over security arrangements for that portion of the trip, and no final decision has been made.

On Thursday, Harry is scheduled to visit Birmingham Children’s Hospital in support of WellChild, a charity he has continued to back since moving to the United States. If Meghan travels to the U.K. later in the week, she is expected to join him at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre to mark the year-long countdown to the venue hosting the Invictus Games.

The BBC reported that there had also been plans for Harry to take Meghan and their children to Althorp in Northampton, the family estate of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, and to visit her private grave.

A source close to Harry said last month that the family would stay at royal residences, and the BBC reported they would be guests of King Charles III. It had been thought that London was the most likely setting for a possible family reunion. Under the revised schedule, it is unclear whether Charles will see Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, whom the BBC reported he has not seen in person for four years. Buckingham Palace is not commenting on private family matters.

Harry has repeatedly raised concerns about security for his family in the U.K. after losing a court challenge seeking to restore full police protection during visits. “It’s impossible for me to take my family back to the U.K. safely,” he told the BBC last year. In 2025, he also told the BBC he could not “see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the UK at this point.”

The security dispute centers on decisions by the Royal and VIP Executive Committee, known as Ravec, which determines protection for senior royals and other public figures.

Harry and Meghan left Britain for North America in 2020 and stepped back from royal duties. They were last together in the U.K. in 2022, around the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. Harry has since returned alone, including for a brief meeting with King Charles at Clarence House in London last September.