Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is due to visit London in early March, it is understood.

The visit was previously set to take place in February, but now appears to have been pushed back amid fears it could be disrupted by activists protesting the kingdom’s role in the ongoing war in Yemen.

Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT), which opposes UK sales of weapons to Saudi Arabia, said police had confirmed that they expect Prince Mohammed to visit from 7 to 9 March. It is planning to protest the visit.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police would not confirm the specific dates to The Independent. A Downing Street press officer would also not confirm the dates of Prince Mohammed's visit, saying only that No 10 would set out the plans “in due course”.

The prince had been expected to travel to the UK this month, with Boris Johnson confirming the visit in principle after he returned from his own trip to Saudi Arabia in January. "An invitation has certainly been issued, and all I’ll say is that we’re very hopeful that he and others will come,” the Foreign Secretary said.

But Saudi diplomats were upset by a three-part BBC documentary that aired last month, The Middle East Eye reported. House of Saud: A Family At War explored a “moment of unprecedented instability” in the rule of the Saudi royal family and an unprecedented crackdown on hundreds of the richest Saudis by Prince Mohammed.

House of Saud: A Family at War- trailer

Although the exact itinerary of the three-day visit to London is not known, the prince is set to conduct a series of high-profile meetings.

The conservative kingdom has pushed to modernise its economy and make it less dependent on oil, an initiative the UK has been keen to endorse.

It has also rolled out social changes that include better rights for women - who will be allowed to drive for the first time in June.

But Prince Mohammed in particular has attracted international criticism for leading Saudi Arabia into a bloody intervention in the Yemeni civil war in March 2015, aimed at preventing Shia Houthi rebels taking control of the strategically placed neighbour.

The Saudi-led coalition bombing campaign, as well as blockades of air and sea access to the country, have compounded the impacts of the civil war and left 70 per cent of Yemen’s 27-million-strong population reliant on some form of humanitarian aid, 7.3 million on the brink of famine and suffering the worst cholera outbreak in modern history.

Since the bombing began in Yemen, Britain has licensed over £4.6bn worth of fighter jets and bombs to the Saudi military, according to CAAT. Human Rights Watch has linked UK-made weapons to the destruction of civilian infrastructure.

The kingdom is the biggest buyer of UK-made arms of any country.

10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Show all 10 1 /10 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In October 2014, three lawyers, Dr Abdulrahman al-Subaihi, Bander al-Nogaithan and Abdulrahman al-Rumaih , were sentenced to up to eight years in prison for using Twitter to criticize the Ministry of Justice. AFP/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2015, Yemen’s Sunni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was forced into exile after a Shia-led insurgency. A Saudi Arabia-led coalition has responded with air strikes in order to reinstate Mr Hadi. It has since been accused of committing war crimes in the country. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Women who supported the Women2Drive campaign, launched in 2011 to challenge the ban on women driving vehicles, faced harassment and intimidation by the authorities. The government warned that women drivers would face arrest. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Members of the Kingdom’s Shia minority, most of whom live in the oil-rich Eastern Province, continue to face discrimination that limits their access to government services and employment. Activists have received death sentences or long prison terms for their alleged participation in protests in 2011 and 2012. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses All public gatherings are prohibited under an order issued by the Interior Ministry in 2011. Those defy the ban face arrest, prosecution and imprisonment on charges such as “inciting people against the authorities”. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2014, the Interior Ministry stated that authorities had deported over 370,000 foreign migrants and that 18,000 others were in detention. Thousands of workers were returned to Somalia and other states where they were at risk of human rights abuses, with large numbers also returned to Yemen, in order to open more jobs to Saudi Arabians. Many migrants reported that prior to their deportation they had been packed into overcrowded makeshift detention facilities where they received little food and water and were abused by guards. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses The Saudi Arabian authorities continue to deny access to independent human rights organisations like Amnesty International, and they have been known to take punitive action, including through the courts, against activists and family members of victims who contact Amnesty. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Raif Badawi was sentenced to 1000 lashes and 10 years in prison for using his liberal blog to criticise Saudi Arabia’s clerics. He has already received 50 lashes, which have reportedly left him in poor health. Carsten Koall/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Dawood al-Marhoon was arrested aged 17 for participating in an anti-government protest. After refusing to spy on his fellow protestors, he was tortured and forced to sign a blank document that would later contain his ‘confession’. At Dawood’s trial, the prosecution requested death by crucifixion while refusing him a lawyer. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was arrested in 2012 aged either 16 or 17 for participating in protests during the Arab spring. His sentence includes beheading and crucifixion. The international community has spoken out against the punishment and has called on Saudi Arabia to stop. He is the nephew of a prominent government dissident. Getty

Writing in The Independent on Tuesday, CAAT’s media coordinator Andrew Smith said: “The Saudi Crown Prince might be a PR-friendly figurehead for one of the most authoritarian regimes in the world, but he has been the lead architect of the devastating three yearlong bombardment of Yemen.”

He added: “The response of Theresa May and her colleagues hasn’t been to condemn the bombing and call for a much-needed ceasefire. On the contrary, the UK government has armed and supported the bombing campaign since day one.