Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle have sharply criticized international photographers spotted around their children's school in the UK. A spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex described their behavior as “extremely irresponsible“ and “unacceptable invasion of children's personal space“.
Two men with backpacks were spotted by school staff and private security patrolling the perimeter of the school, stopping and observing the courtyard. They were initially seen separately, then together, before leaving in a white van.
Police later determined that the car was a rental car and the men were foreign photographers working for a European news agency. There is no evidence that they had committed a crime, but their behavior has sparked a strong reaction from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's team.
“There is a huge difference between legitimate media activity and photographers walking around a school, stopping to peek into the playground and observing children during their school day,” a spokesman for the couple said.
The timing of the incident is particularly worrying. It comes shortly after a separate incident at RAF Fairford air base, in which five people were arrested on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act. According to British media, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet also attend the school where American children from families connected to the base study. There is no information about a connection between the two cases.
The incident comes just weeks after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle changed the school for 7-year-old Prince Archie and 5-year-old Princess Lilibet. According to Sky News, the initial choice was changed after about two weeks due to heavy traffic and the length of the daily commute, which created difficulties for the family's security. There was also an incident reported in which the movement of their car convoy was disrupted.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle returned to live in the UK in August 2026 after years in California. The couple has been trying to keep both their whereabouts and their children's school a secret.
The case has brought to the fore Prince Harry's long-standing dispute over his family's security in the UK. Since stepping down as a working member of the royal family in 2020, he has lost the automatic right to state police protection for every visit he makes and has continued to challenge the way his protection is determined. The family now relies on private security while the issue of state protection is being revisited.
The issue also has a deeply personal dimension for Prince Harry. His mother, Princess Diana, died in a car crash in Paris in 1997 while her car was being chased by photographers. Over the years, Harry has repeatedly cited his mother's experience as one of the reasons he is particularly sensitive to media pressure on his wife and children.
The name and location of Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet's school are not published by the British media for security and privacy reasons.