Prince Harry and Meghan Markle recruit new head of comms… and she’s a HUGE fan of Princess Kate & William
HARRY and Meghan have recruited a new head of comms who was a HUGE fan of Kate and William’s Royal Wedding.
Meredith Maines has been appointed their new press guru as Meg launches her new Netflix show next week.
Posting on X the day before Kate and Will’s 2011 wedding she wrote about planning to watch “8 hours of Royal Wedding coverage”.
Then the day after the event posted about her “royal wedding over-indulgence” adding “if there is such a thing”.
But the PR executive did not post any such gushing messages online about Harry and Meghan’s wedding in 2018.
Meredith, who according to LinkedIn spent three years as Head of Communications at streaming service Hulu, is now Meg and Harry’s Chief of Communications.
And has links to BetterUp the Silicon Valley start-up which employs Harry as a Chief Impact Officer.
Meredith’s most recent employer was Lightspeed Venture Partners.
It marks a long string of staff turn over under the Sussexes employ with 19 staff members now leaving since their marriage in 2018.
In a statement Meredith said: “I’m honored to partner with Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, to highlight the amazing work they are doing through Archewell, their broader business portfolio, and nonprofit work.
“I’m excited to help them tell their story as entrepreneurs, builders and philanthropists while overseeing all communications for the couple and their ventures.”
She is set to start her role on March 3.
The Sussexes have also recruited Shahed Fakhari Larson, the founder of UNLMTD Partners, as a communications advisor for their latest tech and business projects.
Harry and Meg’s former Chief of Comms, Ashley Hansen, began working for the pair in 2022.
She reportedly left in October last year to launch her own communications firm Three Gate Strategies.
In a statement she thanks the Sussexes for their “trust” and “unwavering support”.
The former employee said she was grateful for “the opportunity of a lifetime” and vowed to continue supporting the couple.
Meghan said in her own statement: “We are so proud of Ashley, especially as a female entrepreneur.
“We look forward to having her focused expertise on our business and creative projects and her continued oversight of our communications team.
“My husband and I are excited to be alongside Ashley as she builds something extraordinarily special with her firm.”
This comes after Meghan and Harry’s Chief of Staff, Josh Kettler, threw in the towel after just three months ahead of the controversial Colombia tour last year.
And, Prince Harry’s charity chief Dominic Reid quit his role as chief executive of the Invictus Games Foundation in July last year.
While Bennett Levine, their manager of Archewell Productions, left earlier in 2024.
And the Oscar-nominated producer Ben Browning quit as head of internal content at the company in January 2023.
Sussex staff resignations
By Robert Jobson
AN ASTONISHING 18 members of staff have quit working for them in just a few years — nine since they moved to Montecito, California.
In late 2018, Meghan’s personal assistant Melissa Toubati quit.
It also emerged senior communications secretary Katrina McKeever left the Press team the same month.
Not long after, private secretary Samantha Cohen resigned.
In January 2019 Meghan’s female bodyguard of six months, who has never been named for security reasons, also quit.
By March, senior communications secretary Jason Knauf jumped ship and went to work for Prince William and Kate’s Royal Foundation.
Meghan also went through three nannies in just six weeks after baby son Archie was born in May 2019.
Harry and Meghan’s PR chief Sarah Latham left the couple after they quit the UK in 2020.
Meghan parted ways with talent agent Nick Collins, of The Gersh Agency, who was with her since she was a struggling actress.
And her close friend Keleigh Thomas-Morgan, a partner at Hollywood PR firm Sunshine Sachs, split from Meghan after the couple moved to the US.
The Sussexes recruited Toya Holness, former communications chief for New York City Department of Education, but she lasted 18 months and left shortly after the Invictus Games in 2022.
Just a year after their Megxit dash, Catherine St-Laurent was ousted as chief executive of their charitable foundation Archewell.
Meanwhile, Mandana Dayani, who was made president of Archewell, stepped down after less than 18 months in her role.
Oscar-nominated film producer Ben Browning was named head of content at Archewell in March 2021.
The foundation was supposed to be producing documentaries and podcasts.
But podcast Archetypes was dropped by Spotify and he left in January 2023.
Two months earlier, Rebecca Sanares left her role as head of audio at Archewell.
Last week the Duchess was accused of bullying several staff members “out of the royal household” by an ex-senior former aide.
In a bombshell TV interview Jason Knauf said he has “no regrets” after raising concerns about the former royal in an internal email.
Mr Knauf, who previously worked for Prince William and Princess Kate for seven years, told 60 Minutes Australia about the message he sent in 2018.
It was leaked three years later ahead of Meg and Prince Harry‘s controversial interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Meghan strongly denied the allegation with her team branding them as part of a smear campaign.
The resurfaced bullying claims just as the mum-of-two revealed her latest rebrand and prepares for the launch of her Netflix show.
With Love, Meghan, will air eight 33-minute episodes on March 4 on the streaming service.
Meg has shares several sneak peeks of the docuseries, including banter with celebrity chef Roy Choi and dancing with Prince Harry in the kitchen.
The series is reportedly being made to complement her lifestyle brand As Ever, which Meghan announced last week.
The Duchess was forced this month to re-brand American Riviera Orchard – originally announced a year ago – due to trademark issues.
But the big reveal Meghan has been marred by several setbacks from plagiarism rows to scathing expert criticism.
Since sharing her video to fans on Instagram, two small business owners and the mayor of Majorca have slammed the Duchess.
She came under fire for her choice of logo, which bore a striking resemblance to the Porrores coat of arms.
The former actress was then called out by a New York based clothing company owner and a photographer in Arizona for using the same name – As Ever.
More to follow… For the latest news on this story keep checking back at The Sun Online
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