It’s not quite “I told you so”, but Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, has been proved at least partially right about the paparazzi’s interest in her children.

When the Sussexes fled to America, she said she feared swarms of photographers would gather outside the school gates if their children were educated in the UK. That fear was unfounded because British newspapers and magazines adhere to a strict policy about publishing details or photos of royal children. She could easily have looked to the example set by the Prince and Princess of Wales, who have routinely done school drop-offs and pick-ups without incident.

However, the same media restraint does not apply to overseas publications or paparazzi. And it now seems that two international photographers working for a European agency were seen prowling around the perimeter of the school where Archie and Lilibet are pupils. They reportedly stopped at different points to look into the school grounds before returning to a white van. Understandably, this provoked a hard-hitting response from the Sussexes’s team. It was, they said, extraordinarily reckless behaviour. And who would argue with that?

It was particularly alarming because it came 48 hours after a suspected terror incident involving similar vehicles near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.

Every parent will surely sympathise with Harry and Meghan having to face such a security scare. We send our children to school believing it will be a safe and private space for them to grow and thrive. And these two little people have already been uprooted from their lives in California, sent to a school that proved unsuitable because of heavy traffic and are now settling in at yet another school.

Or at least they were. Given Harry’s visceral hatred of press intrusion and fears for his family, you wonder whether this could prove enough to make him re-think the decision to come back to his homeland. It certainly won’t make the Sussexes overly popular with other parents at the school who now find their children potentially being spied on by foreign cameras.

What is undoubtedly true is that it will strengthen the Prince’s case for upgraded protection from the Metropolitan Police. The couple are still awaiting the result of their recent security review. They must be wondering just how long this can reasonably take. In the meantime, merely having a phone number to ring seems comprehensively inadequate in view of this latest development.

The British press has been scrupulous in avoiding any details which would identify the school, even though its name and location are common knowledge amongst journalists. And no UK publication would dream of publishing paparazzi pictures of the children.

Part of the problem, it seems to me, is that Harry and Meghan have inadvertently put a price on the value of the first clear photo of their children. The Duchess has teased us all with multiple pictures of Archie and Lilibet in which their faces are deliberately obscured. That has spawned more curiosity about them – and upped the reward for any pap who can get a face-on shot.

Better by far is the strategy adopted by William and Catherine who have regularly released charming portraits of their children on special occasions. We have been able to watch them grow from afar; press and public interest in them has been satisfied. And the value of any snatched photos has been negated.

It is now a well-established royal tactic which began when the Palace struck a deal with the press over William and Harry’s secondary school days, and was reinforced after the death of the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

So, whilst I have great sympathy with Harry and Meghan over this unpleasant and unsettling intrusion, I think they could help matters by being more open about their new life back in the UK. William and Catherine have never made any secret about where their children are at school and often drop hints about how they are doing.

Many people would be intrigued to learn a little more about the King’s other grandchildren – and the paparazzi might well lose interest if the shroud of secrecy was dropped.