9 months ago
67
The Duke of Sussex must give due notice if he wishes to stay on a royal estate, The Telegraph understands, after he was denied a room at Windsor Castle earlier this month.
The Duke flew to London for the WellChild Awards, an annual charity event that this year fell on the eve of the first anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s death.
Having established that it would be impossible to see his father due to their diary commitments and because the King was at Balmoral, the Duke asked if he could instead stay at Windsor Castle.
The arrangement would have enabled him to easily visit his grandmother’s resting place at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, the following day, which he also asked if he could do.
The visit was the Duke’s first since the Sussexes were evicted from Frogmore Cottage, their former Windsor home. It means they are now “homeless” when on UK soil and must ask permission from Buckingham Palace to stay on one of the royal estates.
Royal sources have stressed that such provision will be made where possible but that the palace must be given suitable warning of any such visit.
The Duke is next expecting to be in the UK in January, when his claim against News Group Newspapers, the publisher of The Sun, for alleged unlawful information gathering is due to be heard at the High Court.
The Duke’s office first contacted Buckingham Palace after confirming his attendance at the WellChild Awards.
It said the Duke would love to see his father and stay with him if at all possible.
However, he was told he would have to put in a formal request. It is unclear whether the King was aware of such correspondence.
The Duke’s team duly sent specific details and timings of his trip. He had only a small window of 24 hours in the UK before he flew to Germany for the Invictus Games.
The palace is understood to have responded, explaining that the King would be at Balmoral on the relevant dates but that the Duke was more than welcome to join him there.
Such a meeting would have allowed father and son an opportunity to catch up, face to face, for the first time in months.
But both sides acknowledged that it was simply not feasible given the timings. The Duke would have had to have flown to Scotland by helicopter or private jet and even then would have had minimal, if any, time with his father.
The Duke’s office then asked if it was possible to be given accommodation in Windsor – or indeed anywhere else – but is said to have done so too late and that it was deemed impossible to arrange.
As such, he was forced to stay in a hotel for the night – which, having been stripped of his police protection, added a complicated security element.
The Duke was, though, allowed to visit the late Queen’s grave – a private excursion that became public knowledge when a member of the public took a photograph of him leaving the chapel.
The late Queen is buried alongside her husband, the late Duke of Edinburgh; her mother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother; her father, King George VI, and her sister, Princess Margaret, at the King George VI Memorial Chapel inside St George’s Chapel.
The Duke was joined at the Invictus Games in Düsseldorf by the Duchess of Sussex, where they were warmly applauded by the crowd.
At the event, he made a speech saying people should not be judged by their “past pain”.
The Duke is not thought to have fully reconciled with his family during his visits to the UK for state events, such as the late Queen’s funeral and the King’s Coronation, after the incendiary allegations contained in his autobiography Spare, which was published earlier this year.
English (US)