Meghan Markle has been granted her first government-backed security review since relocating her family to the United Kingdom.
The Duchess of Sussex, 45, and Prince Harry, 41, will receive an official risk assessment from the Royal and VIP Executive Committee (Ravec), reports said Monday. The couple has been asked to submit full details of their new daily routines to facilitate the evaluation. Harry was informed by the Ravec chairman last week that both spouses would be commissioned fresh assessments in light of their return to British soil.
The review arrives as the couple navigates heightened anxieties about their children’s safety during routine activities. A friend close to the couple said previously that the daily school runs with Princess Lilibet, 5, and Prince Archie, 7, pose the “most danger” for the family without taxpayer-funded protection. “It is absolutely the biggest area of concern,” the insider shared.
Those worries have already prompted swift action. Hello! Reported Monday that Markle and Harry pulled their children from their originally selected school just two days after enrollment began. Contributing factors included heavy traffic in the area and the distance between the campus and their residence, which placed “their small, private security team” under significant strain.
Markle has long voiced apprehension about photographers targeting her children during school commutes. In a 2022 interview with The Cut, she addressed the prospect of paparazzi capturing images during pickup and drop-off. “Sorry, I have a problem with that,” she said at the time. “That doesn’t make me obsessed with privacy. That makes me a strong and good parent protecting my child.”
The security developments followed closely on the heels of a social media post that drew scrutiny from royal observers. On Sunday, Markle shared an intimate video on Instagram documenting the family’s return to Harry’s home country. The footage showed Lilibet riding her bicycle as Archie ran alongside her, and Harry taking the children out on a boat to fish.
Royal commentator Kinsey Schofield seized on the timing and content of the post, calling the decision “striking” in its “hypocrisy.” “If privacy is genuinely the priority, the most effective strategy is simple… Stop broadcasting your family life to millions of strangers,” Schofield exclusively said Sunday. “Every hyper-curated glimpse of the children, the dogs, the countryside, and their domestic routine invites more attention, more questions, and more interest in where and how they are living.”
She added, “You cannot deliberately feed that machine and then act astonished or outraged when people want to know more.”
The couple’s broader security status remains unresolved. Harry and Markle are awaiting a determination from the UK’s Home Office regarding whether they will receive long-term taxpayer-funded police protection now that they are residing in Europe. They were previously denied such protection during visits to the United Kingdom.
The school switch and Ravec review represent the most concrete administrative developments yet in the family’s British resettlement, even as the fundamental question of who will pay for their protection hangs in the balance.
The Sussexes’ return to the UK without guaranteed security has tested their privately arranged protective measures against the demands of public life and royal associations.