The Duke and Duchess of Sussex hired Meredith Maines as their director of communications (or a title equivalent of that) in early March. Maines’s effect was felt immediately, and I’ve noticed a huge change in the responsiveness of Harry and Meghan’s communications, as well the new ease with which they pivot from ridiculous storylines created by the British press. As many remember, I used to complain a lot about H&M’s refusal to have proactive PR and their noticeable PR bungles in 2023/24 especially. There’s been none of that this year, and I’ve praised the new approach repeatedly. Well, it looks like Meredith Maines and new hire Emily Robinson (who worked as a publicist for Netflix’s The Crown) are continuing to change Harry and Meghan’s communications team. They hired an outside firm, and they’ve also let some people go.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry had another shakeup in their staff. Four members of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s staff have parted ways with the couple in recent weeks, PEOPLE has confirmed. Staffers who have departed include Los Angeles-based deputy press secretary Kyle Boulia and U.K. press officer Charlie Gipson, who were both brought on last year, Hello! reported on June 13.

The shift comes after Meghan, 43, and Harry, 40, hired Meredith Maines as their first chief communications officer, who previously worked for Google, Hulu and American Idol, earlier this year. The couple also recently added Emily Robinson, formerly of Netflix, as a new director of communications and retained a team from Method Communications.

Last year, Meghan and Prince Harry’s global press secretary and head of communications Ashley Hansen parted ways with the couple as she launched her own communications firm. The Duke of Sussex’s chief of staff Josh Kettler also left his position after three months in 2024 after a trial period, with the decision to part ways being mutual.

“Something tells me there will be another change in the future,” a source told Hello!. “Meghan and Harry have hired some of the most incredible people at the top of their fields, yet somehow none of them ever work out.”

Maines said in a statement about the change, “As the Duke and Duchess’s business and philanthropic interests grow, I have made the strategic decision to move toward a more traditional communications structure of specialist agency support, as previously reported in Forbes and PR Week several weeks ago. Transitioning from a team of two to an agency support staff of eight, operating across five different time zones, will give international media and stakeholders better access, and critically, faster response times to inquiries,” she added.

[From People]

I can already tell that the British media is mad about this because Maines cut off several avenues of tabloid storylines. “Meghan can’t keep staff!” When clearly, this is Maines taking charge and continuing to grow the new comms strategy she’s already been implementing in the past four months. Maines issuing a statement (a statement which went to People, the Daily Beast, the Telegraph and many other outlets) was also a great way to handle this – it’s not “the Sussexes’ team is in crisis,” it’s “this is house-cleaning and we’re building something bigger and more responsive.”

While I thought that recent Puck story about As Ever was 95% bullsh-t, I also think that these hirings and firings at Archewell are sort of obscuring As Ever’s staff build-up – Meghan has hired a lot of new people this year, and there’s a new energy with Meghan in building/growing mode. The Telegraph also reported that both Meghan and Harry have hired separate chiefs of staff – Meghan hired Sarah Fosmo, Harry hired Miranda Barbot. Of course, the Telegraph also claims that M&H have lost six staffers now… but they only name four. So I think it’s just four people. Interestingly, the Telegraph had this tea:

The changes come after the Duke’s BBC interview, in which he railed against his father and complained of an “establishment stitch-up” after losing his security appeal against the Government. The interview is not thought to have gone down well at Buckingham Palace.

However, one source told The Telegraph that the writing was on the wall for certain members of staff following the publication of an excoriating profile of the couple in Vanity Fair in January. The article alleged that several people underwent “long-term therapy” or took extended breaks from work after working with the Duchess, while Prince Harry was portrayed as a naive, lonely figure who had failed to make any friends in the US.

The social media manager is understood to have left before the Duke and Duchess released the extraordinary video of them twerking in a hospital delivery room. The footage, taken as they awaited the birth of their daughter, Princess Lilibet, was published on the Duchess’s Instagram page earlier this month and was met with a mixture of incredulity and amusement.

[From The Telegraph]

Yeah… Harry & Meghan aren’t switching up their teams because “the palace was mad about Harry’s BBC interview” nor “Meghan’s dance video made international headlines.” But I completely buy that the Vanity Fair cover story was a turning point, and one which Harry & Meghan’s team mishandled. If all of the people let go were the same ones around for that VF hit piece, I totally agree with Maines that new people needed to be brought in.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.