Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are set to continue keeping Archie and Lilibet away from their Archewell Foundation, a royal expert has claimed - despite it being named after their son.
Since stepping back as working members of the Royal Family, Meghan and Harry have never taken their two children Prince Archie, four, and Princess Lilibet, two, with them to public engagements hosted by their Archewell Foundation.
The organisation, which was founded by The Duke and Duchess of Sussex in October 2020, was named sometime before and the couple said that “Arche,” which stems from the Greek meaning “source to action,” was actually “the inspiration for our son's name” that would be, of course, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor. Part of its mission statement is to "unleash the power of compassion to drive systemic cultural change."
And while you might at first think the kids aren't at any events for it because they are at school or pre-school, there's understood to be another reason for keeping their work and family life separate.
Royal author, Gareth Russell, believes the Sussexes have intentionally chosen to not introduce their children to public life because they are "suspicious of violations of privacy" and he doesn't think they will appear at any such event in the future either unlike their royal cousins Prince George, Charlotte and Louis.
He exclusively told GB News: "Prince Harry, like his brother, is immensely concerned with privacy, but he's more suspicious of violations of privacy. We've certainly seen Prince William get very protective and angry over his children's privacy being violated, but he is also trying to introduce them to royal life. Whereas, Prince Harry has repeatedly voiced concerns about the children being in public. And so I don't know when we'll see Prince Archie or Princess Lilibet at any kind of public event."
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and their baby son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation during their royal tour of South Africa on September 25, 2019
Gareth went on to discuss how the Archewell Foundation has received poor press recently after reports that the foundation's public disclosure of their accounts showed that Harry and Meghan worked an average of one hour a week in 2023 and the foundation suffered a loss of £536,357 having only obtained two donors giving £795,210 each.
He explained, "Archewell hasn't had great press recently. And it may be that actually Harry and Meghan want to keep the children away from that for the time being.
"So I don't think there'd be much change in the way that the Sussex children interact with the world in the foreseeable future.
"But who knows Harry and Meghan are often surprising and they may grow to change their mind, the longer they spend in America."
In 2022 Prince Harry made a rare comment on how he also seeks to protect his children in the virtual world too. Speaking at 5Rights Foundation’s Global Child Online Safety Toolkit he admitted, "My kids are too young to have experienced the online world yet and I hope that they never have to experience it as it exists now. No kid should have to. The internet business model is doing exactly what it's meant to do – let us in and keep us scrolling, get us angry, anxious or make us numb to the world around us."
He added, "My two little ones are still of the age of innocence. Sometimes I feel I can keep them away from the online harms that they could face in the future forever but I am learning to know better. As parents, my wife and I are concerned about the next generation growing up in a world where they are treated as digital experiments."
And concluded, "The online world is changing and it's on every single one of us to make sure that the change ahead prioritises our children's right to a safe and happy future."
In other royal news, you might be wondering what's in store for the royals' family life in 2024 - from rifts and feeling remorse one couple is set to step away from the limelight (and it’s not Harry and Meghan) and is there another ‘royal’ book on the way? - we share everything we know (and it could bring unheard details of Kate Middleton’s life into the spotlight)
