Buckingham Palace staff don’t want Prince Harry staying there in September

Even after Prince Harry stirred up “psychodrama” and lost out on his chance to stay at Buckingham Palace when he visited the U.K. earlier this month, King Charles III wants to continue to extend an “olive branch” and has reportedly offered him accommodations at the royal residence when he returns to London for a charitable event in September.

But not everyone who works for the king at Buckingham Palace is happy about this invitation to the king’s errant, California-based son, according to entertainment writer Rob Shuter. This offer from the king “could reignite tensions behind palace walls,” Shuter wrote on his Naughty But Nice Substack Tuesday.

“The king may want Harry under his roof, but many of the people who work there don’t,” a palace insider told Shuter.

“They felt deeply betrayed by everything that followed ‘Spare’ and the interviews, and that resentment is still very real,” the insider continued, explaining how staff is very “loyal” to the king and the royal family. The insider referenced Harry’s memoir and multiple interviews in which he and his wife, Meghan Markle, revealed royal family secrets and accused Harry’s family members of being cruel, calculating, dysfunctional and even racist.

The Sun reported Sunday that Harry would again be offered a room at Buckingham Palace. But Shuter reported that palace staff were “furious” when that same offer previously went out to Harry for his visit in early July. The Duke of Sussex kept “dithering” on whether he would accept that offer until the king finally pulled the plug on the invitation, The Sun and the Daily Mail reported.

In the weeks leading up to his arrival in the U.K., Harry ignited a furious back-and-forth in the British media over whether Meghan Markle and their children, Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, would accompany him as originally announced.

In this “psychodrama,” as royal observers called it, Harry complained about not receiving the level of taxpayer-funded police security he wanted during his U.K. visit and appeared to threaten that his estranged father would not see Archie and Lilibet unless the monarch found a way to make the British Home Office give in to his demands. In the end, Meghan and the children traveled to the U.K. in secret and the Sussex family was granted a private audience with the king and Queen Camilla on July 10 at the king’s Highgrove country estate.

Before and after that audience, Harry made several public appearances in London and in Birmingham on behalf of the 2027 Invictus Games and other charities he supports.

But during his visit, the fifth in line to the British throne incited more controversy by lashing out publicly after a High Court judge delivered a devastating ruling in his lawsuit against the Daily Mail. The judge found that neither Harry, nor his six co-claimants, including singer Elton John, presented sufficient evidence to prove they had been the targets of illegal news-gathering practices by Daily Mail journalists 15 or more years ago. On July 7, the day Harry was supposed to spend the night at Buckingham Palace, he issued a statement, accusing the judge of his father’s high court of engaging in an “obvious white wash.”

Later that week, it appears that Harry took his wife and children on a visit to Althorp, the country estate that is the ancestral home of Harry’s late mother, Princess Diana. Last week, Meghan posted a series of images of the family’s “summer vacation” which also showed them on a beach in Portugal, visiting Althorp and possibly touring the Scottish Highlands.

Harry is due to return to London in September for a string of engagements centering around the annual WellChild Awards, The Sun reported. But Buckingham Palace staff are reportedly unhappy again about the idea of accommodating the duke.

There are several explanations for why Harry’s stay at the palace has become contentious issue and why it fell through earlier this month. The first had to do with his failure to accept the invitation in a timely manner, after it had been extended weeks in advance, the Daily Mail reported. Harry failed to RSVP as requested by July 3. The next day, Harry said he wanted to accept the invitation but the king himself reportedly put his foot down and said he was too late, the Daily Mail reported.

While every effort had been made to facilitate Harry’s stay, the Royal Household requires a minimum period of notice to ensure a royal residence can be staffed and prepared appropriately, the Daily Mail reported.

But Harry’s team accused palace officials of reneging on the invitation because it didn’t want him staying at Buckingham Palace on the night that the Daily Mail court judgement was announced. Royal experts have since affirmed this view, saying that royal aides would not want him using Buckingham Palace as a backdrop to issue his accusation that a High Court judge had engaged in a “white wash.”

But Shuter reported that opposition by palace staff also played a key role in the original invitation being withdrawn.

“The king’s biggest concern wasn’t logistics—it was his staff,” a royal insider told Naughty But Nice. “Many employees feel deeply hurt by what Harry has said about the royal family. They’re fiercely loyal to the institution, and the king didn’t want to force them into welcoming someone they believe betrayed it.”

Sources told Shuter that the palace already is struggling to recruit and retain experienced employees, making staff morale a priority.

“The king wasn’t just thinking about Harry,” another inside told Shuter. “He was thinking about the people who keep the monarchy running every day. The last thing he wanted was staff refusing to help—or worse, deciding to leave.”

Now, with Harry’s September return approaching, insiders expect the same resistance, according to Shuter.

“The atmosphere would be incredibly uncomfortable,” a source told Shuter. “People will remain professional because that’s their job, but don’t mistake professionalism for forgiveness. Those are two very different things.”