Prince Harry declined King Charles III’s invitation to stay at Buckingham Palace during his May visit for the Invictus Games anniversary.

Prince Harry reportedly turned down an invitation from his father, King Charles III, to stay at Buckingham Palace during his brief May visit to the UK for a service at St Paul’s Cathedral for the tenth anniversary of the Invictus Games. The Duke opted for a hotel stay instead of the royal residence.

Report reveals rift between Prince Harry-Meghan Markle and King Charles over security and funding(AP)

While it was previously known that Harry had declined the offer to stay at a royal property, new details from The Times reveal that the accommodation specifically offered to him was within Buckingham Palace itself.

“I don’t know what more the King could have done. He offered Harry to stay at Buckingham Palace but that it seems even that wasn’t good enough,” the source told The Times.

“It was far from clear what the duke’s plans were. When it came to it there was no space in the King’s diary in between treatment and other scheduled events.”

“’It makes Harry’s decision to stay in a hotel all the more strange when the Palace would naturally offer all the security you could wish for,” they added.

King Charles snubbed Prince Harry time to time

Despite the King’s proximity at Clarence House during Harry’s visit, the two did not meet. Reports suggest that this was due to the monarch’s “full programme”. To which the Duke’s spokesperson replied, “The duke is of course understanding of his father’s diary commitments and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon.”

However, many royal experts also speculated that “difficult” Prince William was “preventing” Prince Harry from meeting his father.

The last meeting between Harry and Charles occurred in February, when the Duke made a quick trip across the Atlantic to meet with his father following the announcement of the King’s cancer diagnosis. The two reportedly spent 45 minutes together at Clarence House before Charles traveled to Sandringham.

Despite this brief reunion, Harry’s relationship with the rest of the royal family, particularly with his father and brother, Prince William, remains strained due to back-to-back royal revelations in Harry’s memoir, Spare, and his tell-all Netflix docuseries.