Experts Say Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Face Privacy Challenges as Their Children Start School Amid Warning Letters to Parents in Cotswolds

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's return to the United Kingdom is shaping up to be one of the biggest tests for their privacy as a family, according to experts.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex left their Montecito, Calif., home last week for an extended stay in Britain, along with their son, Prince Archie, 7, and daughter, Princess Lilibet, 5.

The couple reportedly plan to settle in the Cotswolds, where the children are due to start attending a new private school in the area.

Harry and Meghan have long tried to keep their son and daughter from uncontrolled exposure, preferring to keep things on the more private side.

But royal commentator Kinsey Schofield argued, speaking to Page Six, that everyday school life introduces variables the couple can't manage, however, and that can potentially change things considerably.

"School introduces an enormous number of variables Harry and Meghan cannot control," said Schofield. "Other parents have phones. Children have friends. There are school events, sporting fixtures, birthday parties, drop-offs and pick-ups. You cannot manage a school community like a communications operation."

Word of the couple's move rippled through the area before the family unpacked.

Page Six reported that schools in the region sent parents letters on privacy after the couple inquired about places for their children to attend, reminding families not to photograph or film other pupils or post details about them online.

The outlet said the school that sent the letter it reviewed is not the one Archie and Lilibet will attend, and didn't name any school involved.

"None of those requests are unreasonable," Schofield said of the letters. "Archie and Lili deserve exactly the same opportunity as every other child to go to school without feeling watched. But inevitably, when one family attracts this level of global attention, the entire school community becomes more conscious of what it photographs, post, and discusses."

"Other families are effectively being asked to adjust their behavior because Harry and Meghan have arrived," Schofield concluded.

The move also revived an old argument about the way the couple has approached photos and private content featuring their family.

Meghan posts pictures of the children on Instagram, though typically from behind or with faces hidden. Critics have called that an awkward line to walk while asking the public for distance.

Her team has pushed back on that idea. A spokesperson told Newsweek in June that there's a difference between a mother sharing pieces of her own life and putting her children on display, and that obscuring their faces is the point.

Some commentators have also opined that keeping the children so hidden only raises the price on a clear, candid shot.

The Cotswolds already boasts King Charles' Highgrove estate and a long list of celebrity residents.

Because discretion is already something practiced there, the impression is that the novelty of the royals moving in will fade fast unless photographers and security concerns arise.

The relocation is the end of a lengthy cooldown between royal tensions. Archie and Lilibet met their grandfather over the summer during a U.K. trip that also took the family to Althorp, where Harry's mother, Princess Diana, is buried.

Reconnecting with Charles and the wider family has been reported as a major reason for the family's return, five years after Harry and Meghan stepped away from royal life.