Six more staffers leave Prince Harry and Meghan’s team: report

The Sussexes’ staffing woes are again under scrutiny with reports of a major “purge” in recent days.

IN LONDON

Prince Harry and Meghan’s staffing woes are again in the spotlight with reports six more members of their team have departed recently.

Charlie Gipson, their European communications director, and Kyle Boulia, their LA-based deputy press secretary, were let go after barely a year on the job, according to The Sun, with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex reportedly blaming them for failing to counter a spate of negative media coverage.

“Meghan and Harry always blame everyone else and never themselves,” a source told the publication in the wake of the “purge”.

“No one ever seems to be good enough for them and yet they fail to understand why things don’t change.”

Harry and Meghan have had a staff “purge”, according to a new report. Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

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The UK’s Telegraph later claimed that, in total, a whopping six staff members had left or been fired recently.
It’s reported that that includes the head of operations at Archewell, Lianne Cashin, Archewell’s director of communications, Deesha Tank, and Meghan’s social media manager, who was reportedly already gone prior to her posting her viral dance video on Instagram last week.

According to The Sun, Harry and Meghan have now employed a team from the US-based Method Communications and hired Emily Robinson – who previously looked after publicity for Netflix’s The Crown – as their new director of communications.

A former employee of Bill Gates, Sarah Fosmo, is Meghan’s new chief of staff.

Harry and Meghan’s chief communications officer, Meredith Maines, told The Sun the staffing overhaul was about providing better “access”.

“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,” she said in a statement.

Meghan has been sharing more personal pictures and videos on social media lately. Picture: Instagram

Including this controversial - and now viral - dancing video from the labour ward during her pregnancy with daughter Lili. Picture: Instagram

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However, the story is still likely to reignite previous allegations of Meghan’s management style, with an unflattering Vanity Fair article earlier this year painting her as a ruthless boss.

One ex-staffer compared Meghan to a “Mean Girls teenager”, and described working on her Archetypes podcast as “really, really awful” and “very painful”.

Others described “taking extended breaks” to “escape scrutiny” or “undergoing long-term therapy” after working with her.

Both Harry and Meghan have strenuously denied allegations of poor behaviour toward staff in the past.

In a new interview released on Tuesday, Meghan also defended herself more broadly against the wave of criticism she’s received since leaving the royal family.

Appearing on the Aspire podcast – hosted by Emma Grede, the CEO of the Good American fashion brand and founding partner of Kim Kardashian’s Skims line – the Duchess of Sussex was asked: “If you could rewrite your public narrative from scratch, is there anything you would do differently?”

Meghan responded firmly: “Yes, I would ask people to tell the truth”.

“You’re so measured about it, I’m such a hothead … I would just get so angry if I felt like everyone was lying about me all the time … don’t you ever feel like just being, like, ‘just leave me alone’?” Grede pressed her.

“Peaks and valleys. Of course, I’ve gone through those chapters and you do a lot of work. You do a lot of self-work and go, ‘what’s the why? It’s happening for a reason’.”

“My dear friend Serena [Williams] … she told me years ago, ‘a lie can’t live forever’.”

She then appeared to make a thinly-veiled reference to her reported struggles upon joining the royal family in 2017, quickly adding: “Eight years is a long time!”

Originally published as Six more staffers leave Prince Harry and Meghan’s team: report