Sussexes part ways with six more staff

Telegraph

2 days ago

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have parted ways with six more members of their ever-evolving team, The Telegraph understands.
Kyle Boulia, the couple's Los Angeles-based deputy press secretary, and Charlie Gipson, their European communications director, have both left.
Lianne Cashin, former head of operations at Archewell, has also gone just a month after a Sussex spokesman described her as 'exceptional' and said she exemplified the 'strength and vision' of the Duke and Duchess
Meanwhile, Deesha Tank, director of communications at Archewell, has left, as has a personal assistant and Meghan's social media manager.
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 has 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.
Last month, it emerged that the Sussexes had retained a team from Method Communications to bolster their PR operation, suggesting that they were unhappy with the way things had previously been managed.
The couple have also recently hired Emily Robinson, a new director of communications, who oversaw publicity for The Crown among other shows while working as a senior publicity director at Netflix.
The Duchess has hired Sarah Fosmo, who previously worked for Bill Gates, as her first chief of staff, while Prince Harry has promoted Miranda Barbot to be his chief of staff.
Meredith Maines, who was appointed as the couple's first chief communications officer in February, has overseen many of the recent changes.
She said of the departure of Mr Boulia and Mr Gipson barely a year after they were hired: '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.
'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 enquiries.'
The Duchess is now focused on the expansion of her As Ever brand, although she has given seemingly contradictory statements in recent weeks about her plans.
She told Fast Company magazine that she was not intending to announce any new products until the first quarter of 2026, adding on her own podcast that she was pressing 'pause' on the development of the business until it was 'completely stable'.
The Duchess then promptly announced on Instagram that her fans' 'favourite' products would be returning this month, alongside 'a few new things' that she could not wait to show off.