Meghan Markle Photo Call Comment About Taking Archie to School ‘Simply Wrong’ — Commentator

TL;DR: 

• Meghan Markle suggested school drop-off and pickup would’ve been a royal photo call had Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor gone to a U.K. school.
• Some members of the U.K. media pushed back against the claim.
• One called it “simply wrong” while others cited U.K. codes about photographing children at school.

Meghan Markle has come under fire following a comment on school drop-off and pick-up. While promoting the Archetypes premiere in an August 2022 profile she suggested drop-off and pick-up would’ve resembled a royal photo call had Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor attended a U.K. school. Since then, some in the U.K. media have objected, saying it doesn’t involve lots of cameras.

Meghan Markle suggested school drop-off and pick-up for Archie wouldn’t happen in the U.K. without a ‘press pen of 40 people snapping pictures’

The Duchess of Sussex spoke with journalist Alison P. Davis in an interview for The Cut. Not only did they talk at Meghan and Prince Harry’s Montecito home but Davis also joined Meghan for school pick-up. 

Meghan suggested picking up Archie, 3, from school wouldn’t be part of her life had they remained in the U.K. The 41-year-old remarked if her son were going to school in the U.K., it wouldn’t happen without it being, as Davis wrote, “a royal photo call with a press pen of 40 people snapping pictures.” 

“Sorry, I have a problem with that,” Meghan was quoted as saying. “That doesn’t make me obsessed with privacy. That makes me a strong and good parent protecting my child.” 

Davis went on to describe how Archie excitedly greeted Meghan: “He’s so excited to see her, repeating ‘Momma, Momma, Momma’ in his little voice, as he runs toward her that he leaves his lunchbox behind on the ground. She scoops him up in a big hug so full of genuine emotion that both close their eyes.

School pick-up occurred, by the journalist’s description, without anyone taking notice. Only two “Montecito moms” stopped “to do a double take,” she wrote.

U.K. media pushed back against the comment from Meghan Markle on taking Archie to school

Meghan’s school drop-off and pick-up description didn’t sit well with some U.K. commentators and journalists. Chris Ship, the royal editor for ITV, remarked it’s usually only on the first cameras are allowed.  

“The only time cameras [are] allowed for school run is on the first day at school,” he tweeted. Furthermore, “only 2 cameras are permitted (one TV, one photo),” Ship added. They “agree to share [the] footage with other broadcasters and publications.”

It’s “simply wrong” for Meghan “to claim there would be ‘40 people snapping pictures,’ he concluded.

Richard Palmer, a royal correspondent for the U.K.’s Daily Express, echoed Ship’s comment.

“I’m afraid Meghan is a fantasist if she believes this would be a daily occurrence in the UK, where the @IpsoNews [Independent Press Standards Organisation] code has strict rules about [the] treatment of children in education,” he wrote on Twitter.

Meghan Markle didn’t want to ‘play’ the ‘game’ with the Royal Rota

In addition to Meghan’s royal photo call comment, the Suits alum also discussed the process by which royals issue photos to the U.K.’s media pool.

“There’s literally a structure by which if you want to release photos of your child, as a member of the family, you first have to give them to the Royal Rota,” she said. 

“Usually, the photos would be on media outlets before she could post them herself. That didn’t sit right with Meghan, given her strained relationship with the British tabloids,” Davis wrote.

“Why would I give the very people that are calling my children the N-word a photo of my child before I can share it with the people that love my child?” Meghan asked. “You tell me how that makes sense and then I’ll play that game.”

Meghan and Harry have faced off with tabloids in court various times in recent years. Most recently, Harry won a defamation lawsuit against the same British tabloid Meghan sued.