It was a milestone moment: a photo of a beaming Prince Harry holding his daughter Lilibet aloft – her face displayed more clearly to social media fans than ever before.
“These two + Archie = my forever Valentines,” her mother Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, wrote in an accommpanying caption for Valentine’s Day.
While not a close-up snap, the image quickly went global and it appeared to mark something of a shift for the famously privacy-seeking Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Princess Lilibet of Sussex is now four – her brother Archie will turn seven in May this year – and, as time marches on, it will become increasingly difficult for Harry and Meghan to cloak their children in a shroud of secrecy.
In that context, this latest move by Meghan – a naturally protective mum who had previously only shown occasional glimpses of her children on social media – could be seen as a way of taking control of the eventually uncontrollable.
It’s something that royal insiders say has Kate, the Princess of Wales, wishing she could turn back time.
Amid a backdrop of increasing scrutiny on the Royal Family – thanks to the furore surrounding the relationship between Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, his former wife Sarah Ferguson and paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein – sources say an “exhausted” Kate now holds fears for her own children’s safety.
Kate found herself thrust inadvertently into the conversation surrounding the public release of Epstein’s email cache thanks to an email Andrew sent to Epstein in December 2010 under the subject line “Troublesome one”.
“Kate has agreed to a deal in London,” the former Duke wrote in the email.
“It’s down to you to bring J over the line. God it’s cold and dank here!” Andrew continued. “Wish I was still a pet in your family!”
While there’s no suggestion the Princess of Wales was the “Kate” referred to (and being mentioned or pictured in the Epstein files does not indicate wrongdoing regardless), the reference immediately led to unfounded speculation which has taken its toll on the already fragile Princess.
“With all these terrible Epstein claims, there’s no one more fearful for her children’s safety than Kate,” a source tells Woman’s Day.
“She doesn’t like that she and William are being heckled now for the first time and can’t bear that she doesn’t feel as safe as she did before. She’s even more worried about her kids and their very prominent life on the world stage.”
It’s why the latest post by Meghan has brought difficult feelings to the surface.
“There is part of Kate that envies how Meghan and Harry have been able to keep their children’s identities a secret up until Lilibet starts school [in August],” the insider says.
They add that with both Archie and Lilibet attending classes, it will eventually be impossible to keep their identities entirely private, but it is helpful that the their faces aren’t known publicly.
“That’s something Kate wishes she could have done with her three,” the source continues. “Unlike Charlotte, George and Louis, no one could really recognise Archie and Lilibet unless they were with their parents.”
With all three of Kate and William’s children in school already, the Prince and Princess are said to be strategising a plan on how to talk to them about the current difficulties facing the Royal Family and keep them safe.
“All three kids know about stranger danger and George and Charlotte are aware of the security in place to avoid ‘kidnappers’,” says an insider
“But this situation with William’s uncle is casting a huge shadow over the entire monarchy and neither of them want their kids to find out from anyone but their parents the truth about what happened.
“They’re using this as an opportunity to reinforce safety plans and remind their kids of just how valuable they are.
“It’s a whole new world out there and with AI, the level of deep fakes is frankly terrifying. “
