Meghan Markle signed up to a school WhatsApp group, sharing her cellphone number with the parent community, and a screenshot of her message has since appeared in the media. The news comes months after the conclusion of Prince Harry's lawsuit alleging phone hacking by the Daily Mail. The Sun reported that the screenshot of Meghan's message has been shared multiple times, and that her personal number was available via the group.
The newspaper suggested the incident was a security breach. Newsweek has separately confirmed Meghan did join a WhatsApp group, as reported by Hello! magazine this week. Security around royal cellphone numbers has long been a major issue, dating back to a 2005 phone-hacking scandal in which private investigators and journalists targeted Harry and Prince William, among other high-profile figures.
Harry spoke in emotive terms about the subject in a 2023 witness statement, seen by Newsweek, from his own case against Mirror Group Newspapers. "I was also shocked and disgusted to discover that my name and mobile number were in a contact list belonging to [a] known hacker," he wrote, adding that it was "further proof that I was a victim of voicemail interception and unlawful information gathering." Harry won the case and was paid damages by the company. There is no suggestion that Meghan's phone has been hacked.
However, the saga is the latest example of a mismatch between Harry's strongly worded statements about the family's security and Meghan's more relaxed actions. On Sunday, Meghan posted videos of the family's new life in the U.K., sparking a social media guessing game about their location. The couple had asked the media for privacy in relation to both their new home and school.
Meghan joined the Year Three WhatsApp group the day before her children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, were due to start school last week. Such groups are commonplace among parents at British schools, and according to The Sun, the Duchess of Sussex was introduced as mother to Archie. According to a screenshot, Meghan wrote: "Hi moms!
Thanks for the warm welcome [heart emoji]. So happy to be a part of this community xx." Initially, nothing was published in the media about her presence in the group, which first emerged when Hello! reported the couple had pulled their children out of the school. No account has emerged about the motive of parents who shared screenshots of Meghan's message or how widely her cellphone number was circulated.
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