Harry and Meghan’s UK Move: Why the Kids Switched Schools After 2 Days
Three weeks after leaving California, the Sussexes moved Archie and Lilibet for security reasons, Meghan's number reportedly leaked, and Harry said it's "good to be back."
- Harry and Meghan moved Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, to a new U.K. school after two days, following “a discussion with the family’s security team,” their spokesperson said.
- The Sun reported on Sept. 16 that Meghan’s phone number had leaked from a parents’ WhatsApp group at the first school. The couple hasn’t commented on it.
- Harry made his first public appearance since the move on Sept. 17 in London: “It’s good to be back on British soil.”
Three weeks after moving back to Britain, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have already changed their children’s school — and Meghan’s phone number has reportedly leaked from a parents’ group chat.
The family arrived in England on Aug. 26, after six years in California. Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, started the term at an undisclosed school and were moved to another, also undisclosed, after two days of classes.
Why did Harry and Meghan switch schools?
“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.”
— Spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex
The statement didn’t elaborate. According to U.K. media reports, the first school was a long drive from the family’s home, and traffic at drop-off was too heavy for their security detail to keep up.
How did Meghan Markle’s phone number get leaked?
Through a school group chat, according to The Sun. The British tabloid reported that a screenshot from a WhatsApp group for parents at the first school, showing Meghan’s number, circulated the night before the children’s first day.
In it, a parent welcomes her — “Welcome to Meghan who has Archie joining tomorrow” — and she replies: “Hi moms! Thanks for the warm welcome. So happy to be part of this community xx.”
The couple hasn’t commented on the leak, and their statement about the school doesn’t mention it. The school change was public before the leak report was.
Why is Prince Harry back in London?
Because the family lives in Britain again. Harry, who turned 42 on Sept. 15, made his first public appearance since the move at the Invictus Spirit Awards in London on Sept. 17. “It’s good to be back on British soil,” he told reporters.
He is due back at the WellChild Awards in London on Sept. 21. The same day as the Invictus event, King Charles spoke about artificial intelligence at a conference in Scotland, and Prince William and Kate visited the Isle of Bute.
The move doesn’t make them working royals. A Sept. 8 letter released at the King’s direction said Harry and Meghan remain “private citizens” while living in the U.K.
Their spokesperson hasn’t given a reason for the move. A source familiar with their plans told NBC News in August that Harry wanted his children closer to the King and the Spencer family, and Meghan is reportedly in talks to join Guy Ritchie’s Netflix series The Gentlemen.
Who pays for Harry and Meghan’s security in the U.K.?
They do, for now. Harry lost automatic taxpayer-funded police protection when the couple stepped back as working royals in 2020, and in May 2025 he lost his court appeal to get it back.
That call belongs to RAVEC, the Home Office committee that decides which royals and public figures get state protection. It is reviewing the couple’s status now that they live in Britain, ABC News reported. Private bodyguards in the U.K. can’t carry firearms, which is why a long, predictable school run is the weak point.
The day he lost that appeal, Harry told BBC News he couldn’t “see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the UK at this point.”
More on them is on Prince Harry’s page and Meghan Markle’s page. The latest is in our Royals section and in Celebrities.
The take
Harry said for years that he couldn’t bring his family home without police protection. They are home without it, and in the first two weeks a school run became a security decision. The ruling that matters now is RAVEC’s, and it hasn’t come.
— Bruno Monteiro
Sources: Statement from the Sussexes’ spokesperson (via ABC News and NBC News, Sept. 14–15, 2026); The Sun (group-chat report, Sept. 16); ABC News and Good Morning America (Katie Kindelan; Ian Pannell); NBC News (Adela Suliman; Marlene Lenthang and Jean-Nicholas Fievet); CNN; The Washington Post; The Hollywood Reporter (The Gentlemen talks); BBC News interview with Prince Harry, May 2, 2025. Photos: frames from BBC News (2025) and the official Netflix trailers for Harry & Meghan and With Love, Meghan.
Reported from Good Morning America on Youtube.
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