Prince Harry is set to visit the UK this week - but it has emerged that he will not take his wife Meghan Markle and their children, seven-year-old Archie and five-year-old Lilibet, to London with him. This is believed to be due to arguments about security arrangements. Earlier today, Buckingham Palace said Harry will not be staying in the building, despite his team announcing this morning that he had accepted an invitation to do so.

Before this latest drama, The Daily Mail's Palace Confidential Editor-at-Large, Alison Boshoff, was quoted in an article published on July 2, saying she asked the Sussexes' camp for an update on her story regarding arrangements for the trip and to offer them a right of reply. They did not get back to her. But the day afterwards, they issued an operational note to their "favoured reporters", Ms Boshoff said, "to tell them exactly what was happening on every day of the visit".

She added: "The problem was, the following day, the wheels came off. They started issuing guidance saying: 'Oh whoops, Harry is now thinking he might not come at all.'

"It all just fell down around their ears in an unedifying, chaotic and misbriefed way."

A spokesman for Prince Harry said on July 6: “I am aware of multiple briefings from Buckingham Palace last week suggesting that the duke had not accepted the offer of accommodation at a royal residence.

“Following RAVEC’s decision not to provide security for his family, the duke spent last week making alternative security arrangements.

“Once those arrangements were in place, he was able to formally accept the offer of accommodation for himself over the weekend.”

They added: “It is therefore disappointing that the offer has now been withdrawn, with Tuesday’s judgment in the Associated Newspapers Limited case cited as the reason.

“Buckingham Palace has, however, been aware of that judgement since last Thursday. It is therefore unclear why, having formally accepted the accommodation offer, it has now been withdrawn at the last moment.”

PA reports that the decision by the Palace was said to have been taken in consultation with the King, with the outcome communicated to Harry through the appropriate channels.

Accommodation at a royal residence will be made available to Harry and his family for future visits, it is understood.