The Sussexes have not issued or released any new photos of their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, in a couple of years. There many never-before-seen photos of the kids in the Harry & Meghan Netflix series, but they were mostly baby pics and few pics of their full faces. While there have been some paparazzi photos of the kids in Montecito, there are laws in the UK and in Europe about publishing pap photos of kids (the kids’ faces have to be blurred out). Basically, I haven’t seen Archie or Lili’s faces in more than two years. I’m fine with it, honestly. I wish Harry and Meghan could show off their beautiful family all the time, but I understand why they don’t. In case anyone needs it underlined, this was included in People Magazine’s cover story this week:
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are keeping Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet out of the limelight over concern for their children’s safety. As Harry fights for increased security for their family of four, the echoes of the 1997 death of his mother, Princess Diana, in a high-speed car chase weighs heavily, particularly now that he is a parent.
“Harry has been reluctant to show his children publicly, not out of a desire to hide them but to protect their privacy and safety from potential threats,” a friend tells PEOPLE in this week’s exclusive cover story. “He wants them to lead as normal a life as possible without the fear of kidnapping or harm.”
The friend adds, “As a dad and husband, Harry is determined to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself.”
Multiple well-placed insiders in Prince Harry’s circle tell PEOPLE that the Duke of Sussex believes his father, King Charles, has the power to reinstate his security Buckingham Palace will not comment on security provisions, but a palace source tells PEOPLE the notion that Harry’s security is in the King’s hands is “wholly incorrect” The issue has shifted their conversation from frustration to “complete silence” from the King, says the friend.
What’s a little bit funny to me is that Harry has put himself in a position to keep his kids out of public view for however long he wants, all while his brother is stuck in a dying institution and being forced to use his children as human deflection shields. William and Kate have trotted out their kids constantly in the past three years, to the point where even the Mail called out the “overexposure” of those kids. The Wales kids are treated (by the press) like they’re property of the state. Harry looks at the situation with the Wales kids and you know he’s doing deep sighs of relief that he can protect his kids from all of that. He’s probably thankful every day that he’s not trying to raise his children in the UK, where they would constantly be compared to the Wales kids.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Netflix, Sussex Royal IG and Misan Harriman/The Sussexes.
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- ** RIGHTS: WORLDWIDE EXCEPT IN NETHERLANDS ** Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA – Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are seen holding their baby son Archie, during the visit to Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation in Cape Town, South Africa. Pictured: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 25 SEPTEMBER 2019 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- MANDATORY CREDIT: Chris Allerton – copyright SussexRoyal NEWS EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO COMMERCIAL USE. NO MERCHANDISING, ADVERTISING, SOUVENIRS, MEMORABILIA or COLOURABLY SIMILAR. NOT FOR USE AFTER FRIDAY JUNE 7, 2019, WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM ROYAL COMMUNICATIONS AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE. This photograph is provided to you strictly on condition that these conditions and restrictions will apply (and that you will pass these on) to any organisation to whom you supply it. There shall be no commercial use whatsoever of the photographs (including by way of example only) any use in merchandising, advertising or any other non-news editorial use. The photograph must not be digitally enhanced, manipulated or modified in any manner or form and must include all of the individuals in the photograph when published. All other requests for use should be directed to the Buckingham Palace Press Office in writing. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are joined by her mother, Doria Ragland, as they show their new son, born Monday and named as Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, to the Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh at Windsor Castle.
From the very beginning Harry was going to keep his children out of the public’s view. I remember Jane Goodall saying to Harry. “ have you taught Archie to wave to the public “. Harry’s answer was no his child would not be raised that way. He has continued with this way of keeping them out of the public eye as best as he can.
Stay anonymous. Stay safe.
i totally get it, i only know them from the documentary, so its left up to our imagination as to their development and character, even as i write that sentence i realise how weird (ITRW) sense that is use to be we dont know anything about celebs and royal kids. as it is i probably know too much already
Jane Goodall, said she was holding baby Archie’s hand and waving it, saying he have to practice his wave, and Harry told her, Archie was not going to be doing any of that waving stuff.
So while they use to release a yearly picture, they always said their children were going to be raised privately.
Stay safe. Even if it means we never see them.
Like most (all?) Of us here, I would love to see pics of the kids, but I admire the hell out of h&m for consistently protecting the kids privacy and autonomy.
It’s funny how back in the day that Michael Jackson was doing this we all called him “crazy”, but he was right. It is for their privacy and safety. It is no one’s bussiness how many kids you have, what their names are and especially what they look like. The public wants to know too much. In today’s day and age all that information can be used against you or threaten your security.
It wasn’t covering his kid’s face that made him look crazy, it was dangling the baby over a balcony.
Making them wear masks everywhere was a tad weird although I recognize that everywhere Michael went there were total swarms of paparazzi.
Of course I’d love to see Archie and Lili but they’re not my kids and I understand why H&M are raising them as privately as possible.
It was before the dangling the child incident, which was foolish, but blown out of proportion. He wanted to show the child to his fans, but he was very clumsy about it. No one cared about the child’s safety, it was the laughs and opportunity to expose Michael to public scorn that was the motivation.
Yes re MJ. I remember reading that his children were able to live private lives, going out with their nannies and no one knew who they were. MJ’s media treatment over the decades preceding his death was utterly vile.
I am fine with not knowing what the little Sussexes look like until they appear in public for their own reasons. Not seeing them feels very different compared to seeing William and Harry in public so often as children (as well as the Wales children), but their safety matters first, and those two kids don’t need any parasocial expectations built up about them.
Given the British media’s totally normal and not at all hysterical reaction to the Sussex children’s names, skin colour, hair colour, and titles, I can’t imagine why Harry would make their safety and privacy such a serious priority! It boggles the mind…
I am not a celebrity, but I also have avoided posting my kid’s image on social media. I share images with my family and friends privately, but I am uncomfortable with the idea of having people we don’t know have information about my kid’s interests, friends, or location.
I agree. I remember seeing an episode of Dr. Phil and this lady had been posting pictures of a set of twins….that were not hers and she didn’t know the parents. She got their pictures off of the mom’s Instagram. Its scary out there.
The other day Matt Damon and his wife appeared with his four daughters. Despite his fame, they’ve reached near maturity without appearing in public before that I’ve ever seen. It can be done.
It definitely can be done but Matt didn’t have a nations entire criminal tabloid press along with a king and his heir running a hate campaign against him..I don’t think he was stalked, chased, threatened or harassed anywhere near the level the Sussex family has been and still are.
Funny! I’ve met him and his kids when they were really young in Central Park. I was there with my similarly aged nieces and nephews
Matt Damon said when he was living near Ben Affleck & Jennifer Garner, the paps were always watching and taking pics of them, they would leave Matt and his family alone. If there was demand for Matt’s family, we would see the photos of them too.
Part of the reason there was no demand is that Matt just seemed to settle down super fast with a non-celeb and has never seemed to court the paparazzi the way Ben Affleck did.
It’s hard because I understand why celebs use paparazzi the way they do sometimes, but its also not a fountain you can just turn off, because then you HAVE created that demand (like if J.Lo suddenly decided she never wanted another pap pic again, the paps would probably not accept that.)
For whatever reason, maybe he’s just boring, maybe people were never that interested in him, who knows – but he just never seemed to court paparazzis the way Ben Affleck did, just by virtue of who he was dating sometimes.
But even Ben Affleck – I wouldn’t recognize Samuel Affleck if I passed him on the street. I think I might recognize Violet but probably not even Seraphina.
I’m sure it can be done. But also, Matt’s kids have been intermitently targetted by kidnapping threats; as another reason why they don’t do pap walks or existencial glamour. They (seem to) live a fairly low-key, simple life for the very rich. I mean… Who needs yet another pic of Matt and his family hauling groceries in boarding shorts and flip flops?
The kids of the monarch and heir have always been used as tools to create an emotional connection to the masses so that they feel like family and then overlook how the resources that go to this one family take away from what the rest of the country could get, e,g. A better funded. NHS where cancer patients don’t have to wait months for any treatment while kate gets to watch tennis matches.
Harry was only going to have his kids used against the w and k kids because that’s what British media does. (See York girls treatment). By leaving that cesspool he will be able to give Archie and lili the most normal upbringing possible (for rich kids) something that is just simply a lie when Kate pretends that not doing any work means her kids are normal.
It is unfortunate that Charlotte and Louis won’t even get to benefit from their childhoods being exposed for public consumption but that is the fate of the spares in the toxic and dysfunctional system most Britons think is fine to support with their own money.
100%, but you can’t have these kids living on taxpayers’ money from cradle to grave, public office of the highest privilege for life and have them remain hidden. As we’ve debated before, William and Harry were seen a lot more, intimately, IMO.
The children have a lot of privacy. Think about it: do you know what they eat for breakfast, do you see them going to school and recreational pursuits? The public knows next to nothing about these kids, save what William might drop as a sweetener from time to time: see, eg, George liked dinosaurs and they obviously like Taylor Swift. As it ought to be. But the idea that their privacy is invaded is fanciful. As I’ve made clear, their parents have a choice. Give up the life of luxury on other people’s money and you can demand all the privacy the laws of the land afford you. But you can’t have it both ways.
I’m so glad that they have kept the children out of the limelight, the Wales kids haven’t even reached adolescence and they are seriously overexposed and are already pigeonholed into personalities by the tabloids. Archie and Lilibet’s photos that were released show they are both gorgeous babies, and I love that the tabloid press has zero access whatsoever.
They are used as PR tools for the [constitutional] monarchy, which, by definition is defined by succession. However, I will argue that they are not overexposed. Mostly, it’s through photos, frakenphotos or not.
Archie was being bullied by the BM before he was even born. Then there was the infamous chimp picture when he was born. The questions and concerns about his hair texture, skin color, if he looked “enough” like Harry to “really” be his….watching that as a parent I wanted to scoop Archie up and hide him from the media for his own sanity.
I am so glad that Harry and Meghan get to do that for their kids. Because they’re not hidden away and sequestered from the day light or anything. I have no doubt those kids are living fun lives. They’re just not offered up for media consumption, and I love that and am relieved for them.
The plan was always for the Sussex kids to be used as the ‘spares’ for the wales kids. Yet another reason William resents Harry and his freedom. The laws protect the Sussex kids until they are adults.
I think it’s great, TBH. A private childhood is the biggest gift M&H can give those kids. If the kids are raised super out in public that increases the chances they will be lifelong targets, which also means they will have a lifelong need for $$$ security and their life choices will be constrained. Like, what if Archie wants to be a HS English teacher? He can’t do that if the paparazzi (and worse) are showing up in the parking lot after school with no warning! If the kids decide they want a more public life later they can choose it, but I think it’s great that they are being given that choice.
I think its great too. Would I like to see more pictures of them? Sure…..but I’m not dying for those pics, you know? I think its obviously super important to Harry that they have the private childhood he didn’t have and I love that he took significant steps to make sure that’s happening. They were never going to be private in the UK, even if they weren’t HRH and weren’t going to be working royals etc.
If they want to be more public as adults, that’s their choice, but I think its great that h&M are working to make sure its their choice.
The fewer pictures the better because there are serious weirdos tied into the fan base of that family, some of whom have already taken Charlotte pictures and aged them to being an adult.
Believe me, whether any party like it or not, Archie and Lili are still part of BRF. Their kidnapping will always create pressure, and let’s not even talk about the h4ters and deranged. The risk of facing these will increase as the kids grow and develop a social life.
Most likely both Archie and Lili will need lifelong security, at least a bodgusrd each. H&M are just trying to give them as much anonimity as possible for the sake of their mental health and yes, physical integrity.
I am so pleased the Sussexes have stuck to this mantra. I have no concerns about not seeing their children because they are not my children. It is crazy to think the media are still making a huge deal about this, especially when they have heirs and spares to laud over. It just shows the star quality will always stay with Team Sussex.
Applaud the Sussexes keeping their kids lives private. It has always bothered me as a parent to see children’s lives documented so publicly on the Internet when they are below the age of consent. Given the fervent interest in the Sussexes by some this is a smart move. Also, their oldest child will be starting his journey through school and we all know from following them this child’s school will be hounded as much as legally possible by the gutter press for updates on his young life. Hoping as they usually do they have a well thought out plan for his school years, he deserves to enjoy school, learn and make new friends. Their children owe the public nothing.
I’m glad they will be raised privately. Neither kids asked to be born nor to the family in which they were born. The best thing H&M can do is protect them until they’re old enough to move through the world in a way in which they’ve chosen.
In the age of social media, I think every parent should protect their kids until they’re ready to choose for themselves how they’d like to presented to the world.
I do feel for the Wales kids having to do those birthday pics every year in the tabloids. What about when they go through the awkward pre-teen years? Do they still have to do that? It’s weird. Sometimes I watch Tom Daley’s YT vids and he’s always blurred out or put cartoons over his kids faces, but this year, the kids went to the Olympics and it was the first time I’d ever seen the kid’s faces. I’m sure Daley and his husband knew the kids would be seen but it was worth it for having them see their dad in the Olympics. It’s hard to balance but you can tell when parents are protecting their kids the best they can.
The sad part of that those birthday photos are done so that the parents can have their peccadillos not revealed by the tabloids.
“Wholly incorrect”? Wow! So, even though Charles has supposedly been anointed by God to do his Kinging thing, and even though he’s wealthy and willing enough to pay for Pedo Andy’s security, the idea that Charles has control over security for the Sussex family is “wholly incorrect”
Good on Harry for getting out and for protecting his family. I’d enjoy seeing pictures of the kids, but their security as a family and the ability to let the kids decide for themselves how public they want to be with their own pictures as they get older are way more important than satisfying my / our curiosity.
Charles is such a liar. The Queen intervened to get Andrew security. He knows full well he has a say through his representatives on RAVEC.
She also intervened to get him security every time he entered the UK on her watch. Visits to her, the Jubbly…
It was possible, she proved it.
Charles is only proving that he’s petty, spiteful, vindictive, and a whole ass clown.
The King may express his wishes, and must reveal who is a working royal, but he cannot direct RAVEC to do anything.
I was wondering at the same thing: Charles is willing to portray himself as essentially impotent, when it comes to something so crucial as providing his own son with security. It’s bonkers.
He has the power or he doesn’t and he doesn’t. He can only make his wishes clear.
Discouraging a parasocial relationship is one of the best reasons to keep their kids out of the limelight. Royalists are weird and extremely entitled. I would even go so far as to say perverse and the constant hunger to see the kids is disturbing. They are literally a strangers children to them. That being said I wonder why people magazines focus is on Harry alone? Anyway, I agree with him and honestly, I think even the glimpses of the kids in the documentary were too many. I think their initial attempts to find the balance made them over correct imho. Releasing that bath photo in the documentary I think was one of their worst mistakes. And the very opposite of safeguarding. It’s out there forever now, they can’t take that back. I also think taking The Cut reporter to pick up Archie from preschool was also a step too far. These are things ironically they’d never have had to do if working royals. But I think they’re learning to ignore the crowd that is constantly asking to see them even if it is made up of some of their fans: hence no birthday photos or Christmas cards with the kids since. I think that’s for the best, to not let people expect. The trolls will scream but since they say the kids don’t exist who are they screaming to see?? lol. Anyway yeah, all kids of famous people should get to grow up out of the spotlight. Kudos to the Sussexes for giving their kids that.
“That being said I wonder why people magazines focus is on Harry alone? ” Because to them he is the one that is “royal”, he’s Diana’s son and she was their cash cow. Meghan is just “Meghan Markle”. Just more shitty treatment from the racist press, imo. They have no problem fawning all over Keen, even though no one really gives a damn and they ignore our own American duchess unless she’s with her husband.
Harry has to keep them out of the public for their safety. I would do the same. I hope one day when they are old enough to decide for themselve that we might see a few childhood photos.
H & M are parents with high degree of emotional intelligence, and the kids will grow up happy and safe, and that’s all that matters.
And if there were more pictures of the kids, the British tabloids would run stories of how Meghan is using the kids for publicity and profiting financially off of them. You know, unlike Kate, who is a perfect mother and publishes her kids pictures all over the place solely as a gift to the public.
It’s amazing how no questioned how kate has the time to take birthday photos for all her kids despite the cancer treatment but had zero time to do a zoom charity video.
I also want to know if the British media pays her every time they use one of her photos.
Yes and I was appalled that William and Kate have trademarked their images. How much has that little spinner made them? The absolute audacity to criticise H&M for corporatising their titles is astonishing.
Taking Archie and Lili away from the UK was one the best decisions Harry and Meghan have made.
I wish the Sussex children every good thing in the world and I hope their faces remain anonymous for a very long time. I wish them safety and distance from the toxic cesspool of the UK, their media and the RF.
It defies logic as to why the British public want to see the children of this couple they love to hate. Prince Harry is doing the right thing. Some criminals would take advantage of knowing how the children look.
My favorite baseball player does the same with his kids. They will appear in photos with their parents, but their faces never show. It just seems really smart to me.
I wish I hadn’t shared so many photos of my kids on Facebook and Insta — I was so besotted with them that I wanted everyone to see the cutest children on the planet, but in retrospect, I shouldn’t have done it. They deserved privacy. Every child does.
Privacy is to varying degrees, much less when one is exalted from birth into public office. The monarchy is defined by succession. You can’t have it both ways.
If I was Harry and even if none of that horrible stuff leading up to Sussexit happened I would still want to leave like he did if only to save my children. The Crown literally owns the Wales children, and it owned Harry too, thats why it was so hard to leave.
I am a nobody and you won’t find my daughter’s pictures in the internet because the amount of evil people there terrifies me. Also I don’t think that people who are not in my life should be able to just check out her pictures and comment her appearance.
For little Sussexes, when you add serious security threat (I am sure their security feels very strongly about publicizing their current images), stirred up by the media and how rota rats are itching to tear them apart in their stinky articles, constantly compare to little Waleses, turn every little squint into „straight outta Compton” terrible character traits…. I would love to see how beautiful they are but I hope we’ll never see them.