The Sussex childrens’ school run was meant to feel safe and normal but one flash of heavy security made everything suddenly feel exposed.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been told that if they had kept a low profile and not arrived in a convoy, there wouldn’t have been a huge fiasco about the school drop off.
Former head of royal protection Dai Davies questioned why it was necessary for the former working royals to bring their two young children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, to school accompanied by a separate security vehicle.
“If you keep a low profile, most people outside the school wouldn’t know where you are, what they’re doing, and all the rest of it,” he told LBC radio.
“Do they really need to go in convoy with two little children on the school run? If they only just kept a little quieter, kept a lower profile, they’d be a lot safer in my view.”
His comments come after Harry and Meghan decided to move their children to a new school following security concerns.
The children had spent just two days at their new school before their parents reluctantly decided to withdraw them.
They have now enrolled at a different school, which is closer to the family home, after heavy traffic and the lengthy journey to the school reportedly put the Sussexes’ security team under strain, Hello! magazine reported.
Security was worried that the children were left “sitting ducks” in stationary traffic and that they would be separated from the family’s car.
Their private protection team had assessed the school and undertaken the journey to and from their home in advance, as this was done in the summer, there was no accurate gauge of term-time traffic.
Sources stressed that the issue was not with the school itself, but due to logistical reasons with getting them to and from their home.
Their security team assessed the new school on Friday, with Archie and Lili popping in on Monday before joining full-time the following morning.
Harry and Meghan’s security are said to be much happier with that choice as the commute is shorter.
And the previous school is relieved the Sussex children are no longer their concern, ITV news reports, as existing parents had complained about roads being blocked off and traffic becoming intolerable.
It comes as the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec) has contacted the Duke of Sussex and informed him that his situation was discussed at a meeting last week.
It was decided that Harry would receive a full security review now that he is a UK resident.
Meghan’s security is also getting a government-backed review for the first time since the couple left the UK in 2020.