Meghan Markle has reasons other than security ‘psychodrama' for skipping UK trip: reports

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s claims that they were suddenly told, “at the 11th hour,” that they wouldn’t get the police protection they want while they and their children visit the U.K. have been challenged by journalists who say their team revealed on Friday that the couple already knew this protection wouldn’t be provided and were fine with providing their own security.

On his The Royalist Substack, Tom Sykes accused Harry and Meghan of “emotional blackmail” by leaking claims about security concerns on Saturday to explain why Harry was suddenly rethinking having his wife and children, Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, accompany him to the U.K. next week.

Daily Mail writer Sarah Vine said the couple were once again creating “psychodrama,” while entertainment writer Rob Shuter said the American former TV actress has other reasons for wanting to stay away from the U.K. They include fears of being criticized by the British public and the possibility the trip won’t mark the “long-awaited royal comeback” she needs to promote her struggling As Ever lifestyle brand, Shuter said.

Meanwhile, Sykes said an “unhinged” Harry has reportedly descended into “tears” and “paranoia” over the trip because of the possibility that he could receive an unfavorable court ruling this week in his high-profile privacy lawsuit against the Daily Mail. Throwing his family’s U.K. trip into question over security concerns could be the excuse the Duke and Duchess of Sussex need for her or for the both of them to avoid the U.K as this ruling comes down.

On the other hand, Sykes said he also believes the Sussexes will come, despite this latest, will-they-or-won’t-they drama, “because I think that they are so desperate” to make amends with his estranged father, King Charles III. People reported that the Sussexes are currently on vacation somewhere in Europe.

“They are so discredited and their earning power has just collapsed so much,” Sykes said. “So I think they come. But this is as Harry is still trying, as we speak, to negotiate and emotionally blackmail” his father to intervene on the security issue.

It has long been known that Harry would come to the U.K. to promote the year-long countdown to his Invictus Games 2027 in Birmingham. “Team Sussex” then began letting the media know that Meghan would join him. On Friday, the team sent out “a detailed operational” document that confirmed that Archie and Lilibet would join their parents. The document also provided an itinerary of their public engagements on behalf of several charities, including the Invictus Games, an international competition for wounded service men and women.

To many, this Sussex family trip to Harry’s home country was supposed to herald “a dramatic rapprochement” between him and his 77-year-old father, with the king finally able to spend time with his grandchildren after four years. The trip also would mark Meghan’s first visit to the U.K. in four years.

But on Saturday, these plans were thrown into question when Team Sussex leaked news to media outlets, including The Sun and The Guardian, saying that Harry was “distraught” that their U.K. visit had been "pulled out from under their feet at the 11th hour” because of security issues.

But Sykes and other journalists say that Harry and Meghan are being disingenuous about the “11th hour” news. According to Sykes, the document the couple’s team shared with the media on Friday, “under their own authority,” revealed that they knew they wouldn’t get U.K. police security during their trip. They said “that they were going ahead with the tour anyway. No security, no problem, we're coming,” Sykes reported.

Harry and Meghan lost their eligibility for automatic, taxpayer-funded police protection six years ago, after they moved from the U.K. to California and announced they no longer wanted to be working members of the royal family. Among other things, having this level of protection potentially means they could receive taxpayer-funded security where they live in California, instead of having to pay for a security team themselves.

The decision about who in the British royal family, or who in the U.K. government, is eligible to receive automatic protection is made by several government agencies, including the Home Office and its Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (RAVEC). Harry actually can ask for police protection when he visits the U.K., but he needs to provide 28 days notice of his itinerary. The level of protection he receives is decided on a case-by-case basis.

But that hasn’t been good enough for Harry, who has repeatedly challenged the decision to remove his automatic protection, claiming it was not safe to bring his family to the U.K. without it. According to Sykes, he also has appealed to his father, the king, to intervene with the Home Office, but the king has thus far refused. Last year, Harry lost a court battle against the Home Office concerning the automatic protection. He then appealed directly to the Home Office, asking for RAVEC to conduct a full risk assessment of his security risk while in the U.K.

According to what Harry’s team told the media, he had been awaiting that risk assessment and only just learned it had not taken place.

“Their plans to see family, friends and visit various charitable causes close to the duke's heart have been pulled out from under their feet at the 11th hour,” a source told The Guardian. “He's looking at every option to try and get the family here safely and keep them safe when they're on the ground. If he can find a way to do that he will.”

But Sykes said Harry’s team already acknowledged that the review had not taken place in their briefing to the media and indicated it wasn’t an issue. Sykes said the lack of a review basically meant a “continuation of the status quo” regarding his security.

“The idea that the continuation of the status quo represents some sudden and dramatic development, a bolt from the blue that justifies upending the plans of dozens of organizations, betraying the trust of every journalist and reader who took the Sussexes at their word (guilty), and plunging the entire tour into chaos, is not just absurd,” Sykes wrote. “It is insulting to everyone's intelligence.”

Sykes said Harry and Meghan’s back-and-forth over whether she and the children are coming has been especially disruptive to planners for the Invictus Games and other charities they claim to support. “Let's think about the people who have spent the past two years working to put the Invictus event together, which now seems to play second fiddle to Harry and Meghan's arrogance and ego,” he said.

Vine also reported that Buckingham Palace had offered the couple a royal residence for the Sussex family to use during their trip — but that the offer had yet to be accepted, with mere days before their arrival.

A spokesperson for Harry dismissed the idea that Buckingham Palace was being generous in providing a royal residence for the family’s stay, according to The Sun.

"Prince Harry's program in the United Kingdom includes both public and private engagements across the country,” the spokesperson said. “The issue has never been accommodation. The issue is whether appropriate and proportionate protective security is being provided throughout the entirety of the visit.”

But on his Naughty But Nice Substack, Shuter reported that Harry’s decision to potentially leave Meghan and the children behind is “about far more than security.” He said it’s about Meghan’s concerns about public criticism, given that she has become a polarizing figure in the U.K. A recent YouGov poll shows that only about 19% to 20% of the British public have a favorable view of her, as Newsweek reported.

"Meghan genuinely thought this would be her big moment," a source told Shuter. “She wanted to remind everyone she's still royal. … Instead, she walked straight into another wave of criticism." A palace source also told Shuter that security is just a public excuse. “The backlash is what really changed the plan,” the source said. “Meghan saw the reaction and decided she didn't want to walk back into that storm. Harry still wants to go, but she's made it clear she doesn't."

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This story was originally published June 29, 2026 at 9:02 AM.