Parents at the schools attended by the children of Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, and Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, say they believe the couple are using their two young children — and fears about their safety — as leverage in a long-running fight with British officials over publicly funded police protection. The claims, published September 16, 2026, come from parents who were not named.
Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, were pulled out of their new English school and moved to another two days into term. Parents at the schools the children briefly attended said they suspect the couple’s stated worries about the school run are a bid to strengthen their case for taxpayer-funded guards. “This was obviously going to happen… They didn’t know there was traffic in Oxford?! This is all just a ploy to get security,” one parent said. Since returning to Britain the family has again requested stepped-up protection despite no longer being working royals, and officials say a formal risk assessment is under way.
The couple’s own account is the only one on the record. “The decision for the children to move school was taken following a discussion with the family’s security team about the practicalities of their current arrangements,” a spokesperson told ITV News. The move had nothing to do with the standard of teaching, the representative said, adding: “The parents remain extremely grateful to all the teachers and staff for the love, care and effort they have shown their family.”
Traffic, and a School Nobody Will Name
Traffic problems made it hard for the private security team’s separate car to stay close to the children on the school run, according to accounts of the decision. The security operation ran its checks on the school over the summer but said it could not properly assess the school run until the first day of term, and concerns were raised when the family’s convoy was broken up in traffic, leaving the cars described as “sitting ducks.”
Where all this happened is not settled. Parents quoted in the reporting refer to Oxford, where congestion is severe enough that the city introduced a charge in October 2025 — a step no British city outside London had taken. Commentators discussing the same episode refer instead to the Cotswolds. The couple have not named either school, and no outlet has confirmed the location.
Other families were unimpressed. Local traffic dominates conversation among parents, one said, with a favorite tactic being to rise at 5:45 a.m., drive in early and spend an hour in a coffee shop over breakfast and homework. Parents at the new school reported that the children were settling in and that nothing had been circulated asking families to respect the couple’s privacy, which one called welcome. Meghan was added to a parents’ WhatsApp group there and replied with thanks, though a mishap left her personal phone number visible to the group.
Ravec Orders a Full Review
The withdrawal coincided with confirmation on September 14 that the Royal and VIP Executive Committee — Ravec, formally the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures — had discussed Harry’s case and decided he should have a full Risk Management Board review now that he is resident in the U.K. Ravec is a government body that coordinates protection for members of the royal family with the Royal Household, the Metropolitan Police and the Home Office. Harry’s last such review was completed in July 2026.
Meghan will get a separate review of her own — the first official assessment of her protection since the couple left the monarchy six years ago.
Commentators Question the Timing
Royal author Robert Jobson told Sun Studio that the episode had been dressed up as a major security incident when, he believed, it had more to do with the family not getting up in time. “It’s really sad that the kids are becoming the narrative here,” he said. Jobson added that the drama coincided with Ravec’s decision on whether the couple get full-time protection, and said the media was being played.
Royal commentator Angela Levin said the affair was a route to getting Ravec to spend a large amount of taxpayers’ money on the couple, and questioned whether the traffic was genuinely a problem or the day had been staged to pressure the government into round-the-clock publicly funded protection. It seemed very odd that nobody foresaw the problem before term started, she said, and the two children had to be brave going into an unfamiliar class after being taken out of their home and classroom in California.
The couple lost automatic police protection when they stepped down as working royals in 2020, and Harry lost his appeal against the U.K. government in May 2025, ending hopes of publicly funded armed guards whenever the family returned. He has said he pays for the family’s security in the United States and offered to pay for police protection in Britain, only to be told that armed British officers are not for hire; he reportedly spent more than $1 million on lawyers fighting the case. In 2024, friends of King Charles III accused Harry of “emotional blackmail,” suggesting he would not let the king see his grandchildren unless he received armed police protection in the U.K.
The family moved back to Britain in August after six years in California, and the duchess was reported to be nervous about doing the school run. Reports on September 2 said the children would attend a prep school with fees of about £26,000 a year, roughly $35,000. The couple have not revealed the name of the new school.