The is the moment Prince Harry chuckles as he is asked whether he is happy to be home during his whistle-stop trip to the UK.

The Duke of Sussex will give a speech at St Paul’s Cathedral to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games after he was ‘snubbed’ by his father following his arrival in the UK.

He was captured leaving an event in Central London yesterday strolling towards a black Range Rover.

The smartly dressed prince smiled as he said hello and waved at onlookers. Walking with a black folder under his arm, he nervously chuckled as he was asked if he was happy to be home. He dodges the question and says in response: ‘Nice to see you.’

It comes after Harry admitted that his father King Charles was too busy to see him this week.

After weeks of speculation about a reunion, his spokesman announced stiffly that a meeting ‘will not be possible due to His Majesty’s full programme’.

Harry tried to put a brave face on the situation, saying he understood his father’s position and ‘hopes to see him soon’. But the news will have come as a crushing blow to the prince, who told US television in February he hoped Charles’s illness could ‘reunify’ the Royal Family.

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Prince Harry waves at onlookers as he walks with a black folder under his arm yesterday. Asked if he was happy to be home he nervously chuckles and says in response: ‘Nice to see you’

While Harry was just three miles – or a 25-minute drive away – on an engagement in east London yesterday, Charles met the prime minister of the Republic of Fiji at Buckingham Palace, before retiring to Clarence House.

Today he again has meetings at Buckingham Palace in the morning before attending the first royal garden party of the season in the afternoon, followed by his weekly audience with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and a Privy Council meeting well into the evening.

His spokesman said: ‘In response to the many inquiries and continued speculation on whether or not the duke will meet with his father while in the UK this week, it, unfortunately, will not be possible due to His Majesty’s full programme.

‘The duke of course is understanding of his father’s diary of commitments and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon.’

Royal aides have repeatedly declined to comment on anything to do with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for fearing of triggering yet another war of words across the Atlantic.

However, just hours after Harry’s statement, palace officials blithely announced a new joint engagement for Charles and his eldest son William.

It is one of dozens of official engagements being planned for the 75-year-old monarch in the coming months after his doctors gave him the all-clear to undertake more public work once again while continuing his cancer treatment.

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King Charles III leaving Windsor Castle yesterday

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Prince Harry at the Honourable Artillery Company in London yesterday

Tomorrow he is expected at an as-yet unannounced engagement outside London. It is not believed that Harry was encouraged to put out a statement himself because there is little in the way of communications between the palace and his people.

But it no doubt became clear the continued speculation about family relations would continue to overshadow the work he has come here to do.

The 39-year-old prince, who remains fifth in line to the throne despite quitting royal duties and the UK, is in London for several days for engagements centred around the Paralympic-style Invictus Games, which he founded in 2014 for injured service personnel.

Yesterday he attended an event to mark the legacy of the games and today will give a reading at a St Paul’s Cathedral service to mark the event’s tenth anniversary. Media close to the Sussexes had suggested he also ‘fervently’ wished to see his father while he was here.

Harry has travelled alone, apart from his personal security guards, after claiming he does not feel safe bringing his family to the UK amid a continuing row with the Home Office following its decision to strip him of his round-the-clock Metropolitan Police protection when he left Britain.

He managed to fly into the country unobserved and his arrival came to light only when media favourable to the Sussexes were tipped off that he was attending a private panel discussion with TV presenter Louise Minchin at the Honourable Artillery Company.

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Prince Harry onstage at an Invictus Games event yesterday

He was said by sources to have had further sessions in the afternoon – including meeting business chief Sir Keith Mills, the former Invictus Games chairman – followed by a private dinner.

It has not been confirmed whether he came in on a scheduled, commercial flight, or flew by private jet from his home in California, or indeed where he is staying.

However it is not believed to be in a royal residence. Harry has as no official home in the country after being asked to leave Frogmore, his and Meghan’s Windsor home.

He is understood to have been staying in hotels or with friends during his occasional visits.

According to reports, he plans to remain in the UK until tomorrow before flying to Nigeria where he will meet up with his wife for a quasi-royal tour, ostensibly to highlight the Invictus Games as well.

Harry had not seen his father in person for 17 months before insisting he would fly to London in February after news of his cancer diagnosis was publicly announced.

The King, who had been in London and undergoing treatment for his undisclosed form of cancer, was about to leave to recuperate at Sandringham and was able to see him only for around half an hour.