Prince Harry and Meghan have accused an international press photographer of behaving with extraordinary recklessness after two men were seen circling the perimeter of the school attended by Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet on Monday morning. Private security and school staff spotted the men wearing backpacks, stopping at points around the grounds before returning to a van.
Police later identified one of the men as a photographer for a European press agency, and established that the van was a rental vehicle. A spokesman for Harry and Meghan called the episode an unacceptable intrusion into the privacy of children, sharpening a dispute that had already surrounded the family's return to the UK and the security they would receive there.
The timing matters because Archie and Lilibet only began school in the UK at the start of September, then changed school after a few days when security concerns were raised about traffic during the school run. The incident now places the family's school routine at the centre of the wider debate over how much protection they need, and who pays for it.
Harry has drawn a clear line between ordinary reporting and what happened at the school. He said there is a world of difference between legitimate media activity and photographers walking the perimeter of a school, stopping to look into the grounds and monitoring children as they go about their day. He also said that whatever photographs they may have been seeking, the conduct was not only an unacceptable intrusion but irresponsible and ill-considered in the vicinity of children.
The dispute does not end with the school gates. Earlier this month, it emerged that Ravec is to reconsider Harry and Meghan's level of police protection now that they and their two children are full-time residents rather than visitors, with officials set to assess the risks they face at home and on regular trips, including school runs. That review is now the next consequential step, because the security argument has moved from a general question to a family photographed at the edge of a children's school.
