Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, have been savaged by a critic and friend of Princess Diana, who accused them of being 'hopelessly misguided'. The pair were planning to visit the UK to stay in a royal residence, which would have been their first time visiting the country together since the late Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022. However, the family trip may not go ahead as the pair were not granted taxpayer-funded security for the duration of their trip.

Harry's bid to secure enhanced security measures was rejected, and the Prince is now said to be considering "all options" to allow his family to join him. Harry's level of protection changed when he stepped down as a working royal in 2020, and he has faced a legal battle with the Home Office as a result. It has since been revealed that Harry could fly his wife and children into the UK from mainland Europe for less than 24 hours. He is said to remain determined to bring his family to the UK as planned, despite being denied a review of their 24/7 taxpayer-funded protection.

Tina Brown, a journalist and friend of Princess Diana, accused the couple of using their children as leverage for getting security for their time in the UK.

Writing on her Fresh Hell Substack, she said: "If Harry thought that bringing his children would force Ravec’s hand, he was, as he is so often, hopelessly misguided. Right now, the Palace is in a crouch position about increased scrutiny of royal finances, thanks to the Andrew Windsor-Mountbatten scandals.

"As if he has learned nothing in the last six years of battling with Ravec, Harry went off like an IED when, once again, he was denied official police protection for the family and, as a source close to him briefed, the rug 'was pulled out from under their feet at the 11th hour'."

She continued: "What rug? The only rug under the Sussexes is a flying carpet on which they circle the globe in a cloud of persistent delusion.

"The baffling thing about both Harry and Meghan is their repeated tendency to make premature announcements before the underlying facts have been nailed down. Indeed, all their troubles of the past six years have stemmed from magical thinking that what they want will become instant reality, starting with Megxit itself."

She also said that his relatives, apart from his father, have "moved on" from their relationship with the Prince. "Earlier this month, there was allegedly no invite for Harry to the wedding of his cousin, Princess Anne’s son Peter Phillips, who played such a consoling role for him at Balmoral after Diana died," she said.

"A person close to Harry told me he desperately misses his father and wants his children to know him. He also very much misses William, the only other person who knew what it was like to be Diana’s son. Too late.

"An old friend of William’s told me that, whenever he spent time with him since Megxit, his sense of betrayal was a constant theme – but during a recent long conversation, Harry’s name never even came up."