King Charles III to miss Prince Harry's London visit over holiday retreat

King Charles III will miss Prince Harry's visit to London next week as he will be in Romania for a holiday retreat.

The Duke of Sussex will be in London's High Court to testify in his privacy case against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) over alleged phone hacking. During the same period, the newly crowned monarch will take a much-deserved break from his royal duties and the coronation celebration with a hiking excursion in Transylvania, where he will stay at a stripped-back former farmhouse in a cosy hamlet in Zalanpatak, near the Carpathian Mountains.

He is expected to stay at his holiday home for five days without his wife Queen Camilla. The picturesque nature retreat has no wifi, radio, or TV, according to the Independent. But the drawing room is now furnished with a "small hi-fi player with CDs."

The retreat is no "man cave" though, as it hosts seven double rooms with en-suite bathrooms in three heritage cottages and each comes with authentic Transylvanian antiques and textiles. The holiday retreat has been converted into a guest house for travellers with an all-inclusive stay in the double rooms at a starting price of £140 per night.

His Majesty reportedly sleeps in a "little wooden bed" when he stays at the property. Royal expert Jennie Bond said the 74-year-old monarch "loves it there" and that he has even laid an "ecological" water treatment plant at the residence. Wolves and bears frequent the holiday home, which is surrounded by hills and meadows of the Zalan Valley.

He has at least ten properties in Romania, the first is a Saxon house in the village of Viscri that he purchased in 2006. As for Prince Harry, it is unclear where he will stay while he is in London as King Charles III has already asked him and Meghan Markle to vacate their home in Frogmore Cottage on the grounds of Windsor. They had until after the coronation on May 6 to stay there, although the duke made the trip back home solo while his wife stayed with their children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet in California.

It is also unclear if the 74-year-old monarch saw his youngest son or met him ahead of the coronation in Westminster Abbey. The Duke of Sussex also did not stay behind after the ceremony since he took the earliest flight back to California so he could still celebrate his son's fourth birthday on May 6.

Back in March, the 36-year-old former working royal also returned to London to attend the four-day preliminary hearing of his privacy suit against Associated Newspapers Limited, publisher of the Daily Mail. He was in the city for four days but did not get the chance to meet with his father due to his busy schedule. During this time, the monarch was off at Highgrove, his country estate, and also had a planned royal engagement overseas.

Prince Harry's return to the U.K. comes after a troubling encounter with the paparazzi in New York on May 16. He, Meghan Markle, and Doria Ragland claimed that they were involved in a "near catastrophic car chase" involving paparazzi after they attended the Women of Vision Awards in Manhattan. The chase reportedly happened for two hours as the trio tried to avoid being followed back to a private residence where they were staying. They left the venue in a black vehicle but ended up taking a yellow cab in their attempt to evade the photographers.

According to royal author Omid Scobie, none of the royal family members, including King Charles III and Prince William, reached out to Prince Harry after the incident, which he said reminded the public of what happened to Princess Diana, who died in a car crash in Paris while fleeing paparazzi.