Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are making an active choice to keep Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet out of the spotlight as much as possible — and their reasoning is super sad!

According to a friend of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex via People on Thursday, as the Spare author fights for more security for his family in the UK, he has made a point to shield his children from the public eye so that they will stay safe. The insider detailed:

“Harry has been reluctant to show his children publicly, not out of a desire to hide them but to protect their privacy and safety from potential threats. He wants them to lead as normal a life as possible without the fear of kidnapping or harm.”

Jeez. Such a harrowing thing to worry about.

Plenty of celebrities prefer to keep their children’s faces as private as they can until the kids are old enough to decide if they want to be in the public eye or not — but the fact Harry and Meghan are doing it primarily to avoid any kidnappings or other violence is just gut-wrenching. It shows how much fear they are in and why the 39-year-old is fighting so hard to regain police protection for them in his home country, something he lost access to when stepping back as a working royal.

As anglophiles likely know, we’ve hardly gotten any official images of the kids (now 5 and 3), especially as they’ve gotten older. While they did appear in the couple’s Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan, the sightings were minimal and often didn’t include a good look at their faces. Elaborating on the Invictus Games founder’s thought process when it comes to his offspring and the media, the couple’s friend added:

“As a dad and husband, Harry is determined to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself.”

Several other insiders told the outlet that Harry is feuding with his father King Charles III because he believes the monarch has the power to help get his security reinstated. Buckingham Palace doesn’t comment on security, but a palace confidant insisted that it is “wholly incorrect” to think His Majesty has any involvement. Sadly, though, this conflict has only made the pair’s feud worse.

Meanwhile, while the Suits alum “supports Harry 100 percent” amid his ongoing legal battles, she’s ready for him to drop the lawsuits, “be happy and live in the moment.” A former Archewell Foundation staffer dished:

“She wants him to be free of all of this, but she also knows that because of everything he’s been through and his love for [her and their children], he can’t. She wants him to live in a world where he is not burdened by this.”

From everything we’ve heard, it sounds like he may have legitimate reasons to be worried about his family’s safety — and it’s admirable how much he’ll do for his loved ones — but we hope it’s not consuming him too much! It’s so important to enjoy life with his little ones as much as he can! But whoa. What scary circumstances to raise children in…