The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have had some staffing issues in their first year of marriage. Some of those staffing issues were to be expected, like someone only signing on to work with the Sussexes for a certain amount of time before retirement. Some issues were just weird, like the personal assistant to Meghan who quit her job because, she claimed, Meghan is such a terrible person. I tend to believe most of the issues for Harry and Meghan basically boiled down to “growing pains” and “figuring out what kind of office they wanted to have.” The first year of marriage is hard enough without having to navigate the hiring process for a dozen major staff positions. Anyway, the Mail on Sunday tried to make it into a thing. Again. Apparently, Meghan and Harry are hiring more people… and they’ve asked for applicants from the diplomatic corps or something?
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are looking to recruit ‘his and hers’ aides from the Foreign Office to help with their bid to become global power figures. Royal sources say that after losing several key members of staff, the couple are in the process of hiring ‘most of their new team from scratch’.
Meghan lost her assistant private secretary, Amy Pickerall, last month, and The Mail on Sunday understands that Heather Wong, a former US government official who does the same job for Prince Harry, is moving to a new role. The couple are hoping eventually to replace both, and have invited diplomats to apply for the first job.
An internal message seen by The Mail on Sunday says successful applicants, who will be seconded to the couple, will need ‘senior leadership and management experience’ and ‘have confidence putting alternative ideas forward’.
A royal source said: ‘The Foreign Office as an organisation bears a lot of resemblance to the structure of the Royal Household, which is why staff are often selected from there. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be doing a lot of travel so an appointment from this administration makes sense.’
Interviews are also being conducted for a new joint private secretary and the couple are understood to be seeking someone with previous experience at Buckingham Palace. The Palace confirmed that new staff were being recruited, but claimed that the search was not confined to the Foreign Office.
It’s extremely common for all working royals to be staffed with people from the diplomatic corps and military and the world of politics, honestly. Those are the backgrounds of most of the senior office staffers at Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace and Clarence House. Most senior royals *should* be seen as soft-power diplomats too, so it makes sense that they’d want to be staffed by professionals. But yeah, I guess we’re supposed to clutch our pearls at the very IDEA that Meghan and Harry are so diva-ish and pushy that they would want to surround themselves with people who know how to plan foreign trips and such. Who do they think they are, trying to be professional? Trying to do their jobs correctly and all? Pushy!
Photos courtesy of Backgrid and Avalon Red.
Meghan needed to hire her own people so they clearly know to whom they are loyal. This isn’t knew. It happens everyday in corporate America. New boss new team!
Did people get news about Prince Margaret, Duke of Gloucester, Duke of York or even Prince of Wales hiring back in the day? Why there’s a need to put this story out there?
I get impression that the DsOS see themselves as important but the reality is they are 6th and 7th in line. Just like any head of state in the world surely the important one and the one who responsible to exercise soft power is the Queen, no?
DsOS aren’t putting this information out there-it’s the tabs and courtier leaks telling everyone there to somehow make them look bad. People hire staff and it makes sense to do it from the diplomatic side. Staff leaves on schedule, but the tabs want to make it look like they are being difficult as it gets them site traffic.
It’s not that Meghan and Harry see themselves as important. It’s that the media is trying for clicks, and the courtiers are upset that they aren’t in charge and trying to control a narrative.
Drama has always followed the royal family. Social media makes it louder and less verified. It’s like the only media we have is the old time nasty gossip rags on steroids. Now Meghan gets more crap cause she’s not British, she’s not from an aristocratic upbringing, and she’s a woman of color who had and expressed an opinion and had a career before she married Harry. Harry is one of the most loved members of the royal family. Everyone get’s a say in who he ends up with, and she’s not what they expected. Even if she wasn’t this grooundbreaking she’d still get crap. Sorry. Good news is I think she knew and probably doesn’t care. She looks happy, and should be happy she doesn’t have to meet Trump today.
You should ask the press why they felt the need to publish this along with all the other countless articles about the Sussexes. If they were so irrelevant, then the press wouldn’t be obsessing over them.
This.
Since Harry just had lunch with Trump, it seems quite obvious why he would want someone with diplomatic experience on his team.
According to you Meghan is now 7th in the line of succession? Isn’t that interesting. LOL
So the Duke of Kent shouldn’t have hired an experienced new Private Secretary last year? And Sophie and Edward shouldn’t have done the same? Are all royals other than HM supposed to mess up at their jobs, hire bad staff, and fail to play their part in exercising the soft power of the monarchy in their roles? Because of their place in the line of succession?
Obvious.
Did Harry or Meghan put this story out there?
Sorry they are using up your oxygen.
Everyone should see themselves as important, because who else will.
I really like your last sentence.
How important Harry and Meghan are viewed by the BRF should IMO be assesed from the calibre of staff being hired for them . The Queen and Prince Charles forking out for a head of communication who has previously worked in a senior position for presidents of USA, does not shout unimportant and irrelevant. The irony of being called irrelevant and yet the obsession about them !!!!
The Sussexes could hire a former British diplomat who served in Commonwealth countries. They’d also get a lot of mileage (diplomacy, emotional intelligence, inside knowledge of Commonwealth culture and geopolitics, etc) out of such a person. Like the son or daughter of a high-ranking former diplomat, who also lived in several Commonwealth countries, who is a little older than them.
Seems reasonable to me. I’m also not surprised at the staff turnover, as they are probably still in the process of figuring out how they want to operate.
At least one of those staff was a loaner from the Queen and was always going to be temporary. Another was the temp hired to help plan the wedding, the PA who blew up her own career by writing negative things about Harry and Meghan on her social media. Last I read she’s now working as a temporary weekend nanny for a celebrity.
You’re kidding, bet they had her sign a non disclosure contract.
@Nota – oh I know, the departures aren’t as doom and gloom as the mail makes it think.
Good for them. Diplomats are a great fit if they plan to travel to other countries.
I don’t get a snarky tone from that DM article, for once.
Me neither re- the tone