Inside Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s staffing woes as another key figure quits
Meghan and Harry have a long-term problem and it’s getting more and more difficult to ignore.
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IN LONDON
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle appear to have a long-term problem on their hands - the retention of senior staff.
The royal couple have once again found themselves scrambling to fill a key role within their team following the abrupt resignation of their chief of staff.
Josh Kettler, who was hired on a trial basis, quit the position after just three months in what a source told People magazine was a “mutual decision” after agreement that it “wasn’t the right fit”.
He was initially employed on the basis that he was believed to be the ideal person to “guide” the couple through their “next phase”.
Kettler was alongside the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on their Nigeria tour in May and also accompanied Harry to the UK for the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games.
Not only is his departure nightmare timing for Harry and Meghan, who are about to embark upon a four-day tour of Columbia – which Kettler would almost certainly have joined – but it also once again puts into sharp focus the longstanding issues the couple have faced in retaining staff.
It’s understood 18 senior employees have quit working for them since their royal wedding, including at least nine since their move to the US in 2020.
Shortly after the couple tied the knot in May 2018, their office experienced a string of staff changes, with senior communications secretary Katrina McKeever, assistant private secretary Amy Pickerill, and Meghan’s personal assistant Melissa Toubati all leaving.
Toubati’s exit sparked plenty of attention with a source claiming at the time that her job had become “too much”.
“Her job was highly pressurised and in the end it became too much. She put up with quite a lot. Meghan put a lot of demands on her and it ended up with her in tears,” the insider alleged.
“She is hugely talented and played a pivotal role in the success of the royal wedding. She’ll be missed by everyone in the household. Melissa is a total professional and fantastic at her job, but things came to a head and it was easier for them both to go their separate ways.”
Then, in 2019, the high-profile exit of longtime senior palace aide, Brisbane-born Samantha Cohen, generated plenty of headlines.
She had initially been seconded from Buckingham Palace to work as Harry and Meghan’s private secretary for a short stint at the request of the late Queen, but as she told the Herald Sun earlier this year, was unable to leave for 18 months as they “couldn’t find a replacement” for her.
In early 2021, an investigation was launched into claims that Meghan had bullied staff, following allegations that staff were “humiliated” by her on a number of occasions.
The duchess has strongly denied the allegations.
Cohen, who worked for the palace for 17 years before her time with the Sussexes, later told the Herald Sun that she was one of 10 people interviewed during the probe.
While she has otherwise remained tight-lipped on her time working for Harry and Meghan, in his 2022 book, Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown, author Valentine Low alleged that Cohen had “made clear that it was like working for a couple of teenagers”.
“[Meghan and Harry] were impossible and pushed her to the limit. She was miserable,” he wrote.
After the duke and duchess quit royal duties, their director of communications, Sara Latham, stepped down, and the first Archewell chief of staff, Catherine St Laurent, lasted only 11 months in the role.
However, she later described working for the royals as an “incredible experience” in an interview with The Cut.
“They are incredibly talented and creative leaders. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to do that, to be able to be with them on their journey. The time that I spent with them was incredibly fulfilling,” she said.
Shortly afterwards, the couple’s global press secretary, Toya Holness, left Archewell after just one year in the role.
According to the UK’s Mirror, sources at the time claimed she “wanted out” after finding herself “having to fulfil a great many functions” for the Sussexes.
More recently, the manager of Harry and Meghan’s Archewell production company, Bennett Levine, handed in his resignation in January after working with the couple on their Netflix series’ including Harry & Meghan and Live to Lead.
Last year, Oscar-nominated producer Ben Browning quit as their head of internal content, just one month after Archewell’s head of audio, Rebecca Sananes, left her role.
Mandana Dayani, the president of the couple’s charitable foundation, stepped down that same month after 18 months with Archewell.
Other key departures in 2023 were Fara Taylor, who worked as the head of Archewell’s marketing team during the release of their Netflix docu-series and Harry’s memoir, Spare, along with Archewell’s senior vice-president of scripted television, Nishika Kumble.
Amid the news that Kettler had followed them all out the door, a former member of staff told the Daily Mail that they had not heard “a single current or former employee on their staff say they would take the job again if given the chance”.
“These aren’t employees they had just found off the streets,” the source pointed out.
“Many of them are people who had previously excelled working for demanding bosses in high-performance companies and environments.”
Before joining the Sussex’s team, Kettler had worked as chief of staff at communication platform Cognixion.
It also comes amid reports that Meghan has been struggling to find a CEO for her new lifestyle and homewares brand, American Riviera Orchard.
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