The Duchess of Sussex’s phone number is reportedly being circulated among parents at the private school where she and Prince Harry briefly enrolled their children.

Screenshots allegedly taken from a WhatsApp group Meghan joined are said to have spread online.

The Sussexes have declined to comment. However, people close to the couple reportedly expressed disappointment that other parents would share the private information.

Meghan is understood to have joined a group named ‘Year 3’ on the evening before Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet began at the unnamed school on Monday.

One purported screenshot showed the duchess welcoming the group, writing: ‘Hi moms! Thanks for the warm welcome [heart emoji]. So happy to be a part of this community xx’

However, within 48 hours, Harry and Meghan had reportedly made the ‘reluctant’ decision to withdraw their children because of security concerns linked to the journey to school.

The move followed warnings from the couple’s security team that the heavy traffic was putting their protection detail ‘under strain’.

The route was expected to take roughly 35 minutes, but rush-hour congestion reportedly extended some journeys to an hour. On one occasion, a convoy transporting Archie and Lilibet is said to have been split up, leaving the children as ‘sitting ducks’ in stationary traffic.

Friends of the Sussexes emphasized that the decision was not prompted by any problem with the school itself.

Archie and Lilibet are now expected to attend another school, where they have already taken part in taster sessions. The family’s security team is reportedly more comfortable with the new arrangement because the journey from the Sussexes’ home will be considerably shorter.

The episode has nevertheless raised questions about why the family’s drivers tested the route only during the summer break, amid claims that the Sussexes’ return to the UK was arranged in a hurry.

The private protection team appears to have had limited opportunity to assess the potential hour-long commute before Harry and Meghan announced the school move in late August.

Former Met Police Chief Superintendent Dal Babu said: ‘It does beggar belief why they haven’t thought this through. I don’t think he [Harry] has helped himself or the situation by not arranging things in good time.’

Former head of royal protection Dai Davies also told LBC radio: ‘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.

‘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.’

A Labour MP suggested that he believes the Sussexes have been left exposed.

Mike Tapp, who represents Dover and Deal in Kent, said: ‘Nearly three weeks after their arrival, the King’s son, Meghan, and their children remain without protection.

‘Whatever the eventual outcome, there are serious questions about how this process has been handled. In the cold light of day, there should be a proper review to ensure decisions of this importance are made swiftly, independently and on the basis of risk.’

One mother with two children at the school said Harry and Meghan’s decision to send their children there had been a coup and had excited many parents. But she added: ‘Parents at the school are completely baffled. You don’t need to be an expert to know how congested that area is. It’s one of the worst places to drive in the UK.’

Another mother said of the slow school run: ‘This was obviously going to happen.’ 

The dramatic schools development came as it emerged that Harry’s demand for taxpayer-funded police protection is being ‘reviewed’ now he is back in Britain.

The duke and duchess are said to have been informed that ‘a decision’ was made at a meeting last week to examine the threat to both of them.

The prince has been at loggerheads with the Home Office for years over its decision to remove his automatic right to security. Harry has long argued that he was born a prince and needs police protection when in the UK.

But he lost a series of legal battles against the Home Office which deemed he had forfeited the right to be able to call at will on taxpayer-funded protection after he quit as a frontline royal in 2020 and moved to a new life in California.

Only last year, after yet another defeat at the Royal Courts of Justice – against his father His Majesty’s government – the prince declared in a petulant BBC interview that he could not imagine a time when he could safely bring his family to his country of birth.

But now that he has had a sudden change of heart, bringing Meghan, Archie and Lilibet to live in the UK, his access to police protection is being reviewed, it was reported on Monday evening.

The decision is said to involve reviewing the risks to Prince Harry and also to his wife.

ITV News said the Home Office committee that decides on security provision for high-profile royals and politicians – known as Ravec – has written to Harry informing him a ‘full review’ will take place.

If true, then this decision defies complaints made by Team Sussex about the meeting held last week by Ravec, the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures. 

Some in Harry’s camp had accused Buckingham Palace of trying to scupper the Ravec meeting with King Charles’s bombshell letter last week which made clear Buckingham Palace’s view that the Sussexes were ‘private citizens’ not working royals.

Harry and Meghan were taken by surprise by the letter and would prefer to be known as ‘public figures’, it was made clear by sources close to them.

They believed the timing of the letter may have been an attempt to influence the Ravec committee on whether to reinstate Harry’s taxpayer-funded security.

At the time, Our News Outlet reported that such claims were incorrect, and the letter was sent out by the palace to offer clarity ahead of a busy programme for the Sussexes, not to interfere with his battles with the Home Office committee. In fact, those close to the King believed the move could make it easier for him to see his son privately.

On Monday, Harry’s fears that the letter could have been designed to block his bid for security appeared unfounded with the news that Ravec is going to fully review his need for protection for him and his family.

ITV News’s royal correspondent Chris Ship said: ‘It was decided that Harry should get a full review of his security now that he is resident in his home country and his children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, have started classes at a British school.’

It was said the official review carried out by Ravec, called a Risk Management Board, would be conducted for both Harry and Meghan. It would be the first review of the potential risks and threats facing Meghan since the couple left the Monarchy in 2020.

In fact, Harry had a new ‘RMB’ completed in July, eight weeks ago, but this was conducted before those assessing his case knew about his plans to relocate his family to the UK.

Currently, said ITV News, the only protection the Sussexes have been given by British police is the phone number of a police liaison officer. The duke has been told to call the phone number should he need police help, but he believes this is essentially zero protection as it would take officers a long time to reach him, were he or his family to be in distress or under attack.

Harry argues he is the son of the British monarch, the fifth in line to the throne and a veteran of the British Army who completed two tours of duty in Afghanistan. He was criticised by some British officers for his decision to boast in his 2023 memoir Spare about how many people he had killed during his battles against the Taliban. Some suggested this had massively increased his need for protection against those who might seek revenge.

Scotland Yard does not discuss the security arrangements of royals but it is understood that protection is arranged on a case-by-case basis and is constantly under review. During some recent UK events attended by Harry, such as charity evenings, he has clearly been afforded police security.

Harry and Meghan also pay millions for private security. But in America, their bodyguards may be able to shoot people deemed a threat. In Britain, their close protection agents are not allowed to carry guns, explaining why the duke is desperate to reinstate his automatic police protection.

The Home Office said: ‘The UK Government’s protective security system is rigorous and proportionate. It is our long-standing policy not to provide detailed information on those arrangements, as doing so could compromise their integrity and affect individuals’ security.’