Prince Harry and Meghan Markle moved their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lillibet, to a new school in England just two days after the term began, and royal commentators say the security and traffic problems behind the switch should have been obvious from the start.
“The logistics haven’t changed since Harry and Meghan plotted their U.K. return,” royal expert Kinsey Schofield, host of YouTube’s “Kinsey Schofield Unfiltered,” told Fox News Digital. “None of this should have come as a surprise.”
Schofield said local sources had flagged concerns about traffic near the school two weeks before Archie and Lili even started classes. “When I spoke to people locally, the school-run traffic was one of the very first issues they raised with me,” she said.
The couple relocated their family from California to the Cotswolds, outside London, late last month.
‘Extraordinary and smacks of haste’
Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams called the timing of the switch “extraordinary and smacks of haste and a lack of preparedness by the Sussexes.”
“If the school run had the problems they have encountered, why did they not know earlier and why wait until their children have actually started school. Why is this all played out in the public domain? Security issues should be private,” Fitzwilliams said.
He added that some observers may suspect the episode was used to build pressure on British authorities. “There will be those who believe it has been handled in this way to increase pressure on the authorities to get automatic security,” he said.
Security concerns cited
Harry has spent years pushing for taxpayer-funded security for his family since he and Meghan stepped back from royal duties.
Royal broadcaster Ian Pelham Turner said Harry, Meghan and their security experts worried about the length of the commute and the risk that “potential ambush cars could block their way and hijack the children.” He said the children have now been moved to a school closer to home and that security arrangements are under review, calling it “a very necessary step” that gives the couple “peace of mind.”
Fitzwilliams noted that the taxpayer-funded protection Harry is seeking would involve an armed detail with access to intelligence unavailable to his private security team. “He has been informed that there will now be a security review for both of them, as they have permanently moved to the U.K.,” Fitzwilliams said. “He lost a series of court battles over this but has appealed to the home secretary.”
‘A very big burden’
Schofield said she had been told the original school had a strong reputation and a large international student body, but that “navigating the area would be a very big burden for the Sussexes.”
“That is why I find the suggestion that these logistical difficulties only became apparent once the children started school difficult to take seriously,” she said. “Locals knew about the traffic. The Sussexes knew where they were living. They knew the distance to the school. They knew they had two children of different ages who could potentially have different schedules. And, most importantly, they knew the limitations and requirements of their private security operation.”
Schofield estimated the round trip could have amounted to a 45-minute commute four times a day. “It was always an ambitious school run,” she said.
“My sympathy is with Archie and Lili,” she added. “Thankfully, children are resilient and this happened very early in the term, but ideally these basic practical considerations would have been resolved before they ever walked through the school gates.”
She said the couple “appear to have moved quickly to establish the children at their new school,” adding that consistency should now be the priority, since “the last thing these children need after moving countries and changing schools is another unnecessary disruption.”
Questions over strategy
Still, Schofield said the episode “raises legitimate questions” about the couple’s approach. “This wasn’t some obscure problem nobody could have anticipated,” she said, questioning why the family’s professional security team failed to flag the issue before term started.
“I would never claim without evidence that this was intentional,” she said, referring to Harry’s push for government-funded protection, “but I think people are entitled to be cynical about the optics. The situation reinforces an argument Harry has been making for years. That seems convenient!”
Schofield argued that the royal family’s greatest asset is predictability. “It can be boring, it can be vanilla, but there is something enormously comforting about knowing exactly what you are going to get. They show up, they stick to the program, they honor their commitments and, over time, that reliability creates trust,” she said.
By contrast, she said, Harry and Meghan “operate in almost the opposite way. There is a recurring sense of upheaval and reinvention around them. Podcasts come and go, business relationships change, plans are announced and then abandoned, and now their children’s school has changed after just two days. Individually, there may be perfectly reasonable explanations for each decision, but collectively they create an impression of instability.”
Sussexes respond
A spokesperson for the Sussexes said in a statement given to several outlets: “The decision for the children to move schools was taken following a discussion with the family’s security team about the practicalities of their current arrangements. 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.”
Fox News Digital said it had reached out to Archewell, the couple’s foundation, for further comment.
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