Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have barely settled back into life in Britain and already the school plans for their children have taken a sharp turn. After six years in Montecito, the family returned in late August so seven year old Archie and five year old Lilibet could start at a new school in the UK. The name and location of that school have been kept private. The children were enrolled before the family even left California.
A spokesperson for the couple said the decision to move them came “following a discussion with the family’s security team about the practicalities of their current arrangements.” The same statement made a point of thanking the school. “The parents remain extremely grateful to all the teachers and staff for the love, care and effort they have shown their family. This decision should in no way be interpreted as a reflection on the school or the exceptional care the children have received there.”
📷 Getty Images, Instagram/Meghan
What those “practicalities” looked like on the ground became clearer in the days that followed. Reports said the family traveled in a multi car convoy and that the trip could stretch to about an hour each way once term time traffic hit. One account described the convoy splitting up on the school run, leaving the cars exposed on the road “like sitting ducks.” Sources later told the Daily Mail that other parents were baffled. “Parents at the school are completely baffled. You don’t need to be an expert to know how congested that area is. It’s one of the worst places to drive in the UK,” one said. Another added, “This was obviously going to happen.”
Not everyone bought the security explanation at face value. Royal expert and biographer Robert Jobson told The Sun it was sad that the children had become the story. He argued the problem looked more like a school run and a traffic issue than a major security incident. “The parents don’t really know what a school run is, because you just get up a little bit earlier,” he said. He later suggested they buy an alarm clock, set it earlier, and “join the real world,” adding that nobody had asked Harry to bring his family back to a country he had called unsafe.
Royal expert Angela Levin took a similar line. She suggested the episode was being used to press the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures, known as Ravec, into paying “an awful lot of money” from taxpayers. She questioned whether the Cotswolds really had such a traffic crisis, or whether it was “drama day” aimed at winning 24 hour public funded security.
The timing has fueled that argument. The children’s withdrawal from school landed as Ravec confirmed it is reviewing Harry’s security arrangements. Meghan is due for a review as well, the first official one she has received since the couple stepped back from royal life in 2020. Harry later told Hello! that the past two weeks had been “eventful,” then added a quieter update: “Kids are in school. We’re happy.”
