PRINCE Harry and Meghan Markle are “very difficult to work for” and “it’s not a coincidence” staff are jumping ship, claimed a royal expert.
Esteemed royal historian Hugo Vickers believes the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have a “very serious” problem as another senior employee quits.
Their Chief of Staff, Josh Kettler, threw in the towel after just three months, ahead of the controversial Colombia tour, a source told The Sun.
It marks a long string of resignations under Harry and Meghan’s employ, with 18 staff members leaving since their marriage in 2018.
Mr Vickers told The Sun: “Well, it’s certainly not a coincidence.
“Obviously they are very difficult to work for, and it’s always in the sense it’s always the worst possible sign.
“If people can’t keep members of staff or household secretaries, advisors, and so forth, this invariably means that there’s a clash of personalities, and if they’ve lost 18 people which doesn’t actually surprise me.
“I think it’s definitely their fault, and not the fault of the these people who come in.
“And the interesting thing, of course, is that it’s being suggested the latest casualty Josh Kettler is not leaving on account of the Columbia tour, which again, is worse, because it implies that he’s leaving for another reason.
“You could imagine that it would have been a very good excuse. That looks very serious to me.”
Mr Kettler, a seasoned Public Relations professional, was with Prince Harry on his recent and rare visit to London to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Invictus Games.
He was pictured entering St Paul’s Cathedral with the Duke for the ceremony attended by Harry’s uncle and Princess Diana‘s brother, Earl Spencer, but no other Royal Family members.
Mr Kettler was also a key figure on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex‘s three-day “tour” of Nigeria and was by Harry’s side as he met government officials.
Touching on the Colombia tour, which has garnered a lot of criticism from fellow royal experts, Mr Vickers claimed the couple are “doing it for their own causes”, in his opinion.
“Whereas the royal family are working for the nation and the common wealth, and doing things on behalf of other people. That’s the big difference,” he harshly claimed.
The royal expert alleged Harry and Meghan’s business moves make it “quite complicated” for staff to handle.
I suspect they’re difficult to work for is because there isn’t really a set of goal posts, they’re moving the whole time, and nobody quite knows where they are – and that’s to be charitable to them
Hugo Vickers
He highlighted their Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan, and the duke’s sensational memoir Spare.
“It does seem to be to be as though they’re clutching at straws,” Mr Vickers said in a particularly stinging comment.
The historian claimed: “I mean, even when she was in England there were bad stories about rudeness to gardeners and staff leaving, and things, and some people are very bad with staff and household and secretaries.
“And there are some who are very good, Prince Philip, for example, kept people for over 50 years, and people were incredibly loyal to him likewise the Queen.
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.
“But it’s a very bad sign if people can’t keep staff, because it shows that they are difficult to work for, and one of the reasons I suspect they’re difficult to work for is because there isn’t really a set of goal posts, they’re moving the whole time, and nobody quite knows where they are – and that’s to be charitable to them.”
Mr Kettler joins a long list of staff who have left the Sussexes in the lurch.
Last month, Prince Harry’s charity chief Dominic Reid quit his role as chief executive of the Invictus Games Foundation.
His departure came just days after Harry was blasted for choosing to accept the Pat Tillman Award for Service at the 2024 ESPYS.
Meanwhile, Bennett Levine, their manager of Archewell Productions, left earlier this year.
And, the Oscar-nominated producer Ben Browning, quit as head of internal content at the company in January last year.
Meanwhile, despite any backlash the pair faced over their “faux royal” tours, the historian did praise Harry’s popularity, especially in the Caribbean countries.
“But the difference always comes down to this crucial fact is that it’s one thing to be doing it on behalf of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, and another thing to be doing it on behalf of yourself,” he said when asked of his opinion.
“And so they’re relying to some extent on celebrity based on royal titles, and you know they therefore they have to keep reinventing themselves.”
It comes as the Duke and Duchess are set to fly to Colombia tomorrow.
Harry and Meghan’s latest tour is said to include trips to capital Bogotá, and Pacific regions Cartagena and Cali.
The pair are set to “experience the rich heritage of Colombia” in a visit that has been branded a “faux-royal” tour after an invite from the country’s Vice President Francia Márquez.
And the Vice President even said she is “confident” the Sussexes’ visit will “illuminate Colombia’s role as a beacon of culture and innovation”.
Ahead of the planned trip to Colombia, Francia Márquez said: “I am pleased to announce that Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have kindly accepted my invitation to visit our beautiful country.
“During their trip, The Duke and Duchess will join me in visiting Bogotá, as well as the Caribbean and Pacific regions of Cartagena and Cali.
“In these vibrant locations, they will have the exceptional opportunity to engage with leaders, youth, and women who embody the aspirations and voices of Colombians committed to progress.
“Their visit comes at a particularly significant time, as it precedes the first Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children, to be held in Colombia this November.
“The Archewell Foundation, founded by The Duke and Duchess, is renowned for its global leadership in fostering a safer online environment.
“The forthcoming conference will unveil a comprehensive framework for creating safer physical and digital spaces, tackling issues such as cyberbullying, online exploitation, and the mental health impacts of these threats.
“It will offer actionable solutions and commitments for countries around the world.”
The Sun contacted Archewell for comment.
PIERS MORGAN One word springs to mind when I think of deluded Meghan and Harry ‘prancing around’ on fake royal tour of Colombia
By Piers Morgan
My all-time favourite theatre review was about a play called: Why?
The critic wrote one word: “Exactly.”
I thought of this when I heard that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will embark on a four-day tour of Colombia this Thursday.
They’re going at the invitation of the country’s first black Vice President, Francia Marquez, who gushed that the renegade royal duo “have the exceptional opportunity to engage with elders, youth and women who embody the aspirations and voices of Colombians . . . and illuminate Colombia’s role as a beacon of culture and innovation”.
Meghan and Harry aren’t real royals these days.
They don’t do any actual duties for the institution which conferred their titles on them — they just line their pockets with cash in America by constantly trashing their families, and the monarchy, in the media.
So, what gives them the right to prance around the world pretending to be proper royals, on quasi- official visits?
There are so many things wrong about this.
First, the laughable hypocrisy of them going to one of the world’s most dangerous places — both the UK and US government websites warn travellers to Colombia about the elevated risk of terrorism, kidnapping, rape and robbery — after all of Harry’s whiny demands for taxpayer-funded royal security when he comes to the UK to “protect his family”.
Second, their decision to go and prop up a Colombian government that’s been bedevilled by scandal since coming to power.
President Gustavo Petro, a radical socialist who once fought in a rebel guerrilla group, has seen his foreign minister suspended for alleged cor- ruption, his son Nicolas charged with pocketing cash from drug traffickers meant for his father’s presidential campaign, and his brother Juan accused of seeking payments from jailed drug dealers in exchange for judicial benefits from the government.
Petro’s also faced recent allegations that he cheated on his wife with a transgender TV host.
As for his Vice President, there’s been growing public anger over her hypocrisy at being Colombia’s minister for equality while simultaneously using luxury helicopters like taxis and spending millions on a new home where she now lives instead of her official residence.
Opposition politician Miguel Polo Polo posted on X: “Francia Marquez is the biggest fraud in our black community.
“She’s been in office for two years and has done nothing, only play the victim and travel around in helicopters.”
Sound familiar?
But what I’m most annoyed about is the Sussexes’ delusion that they can somehow operate as a rival royal family on the global stage, enjoying all the benefits from that regal status but without any need to fulfil their obligations to their King and country.
It’s completely unacceptable, and unsustainable, for estranged members of the Royal Family to conduct official trips like this.
The King should strip Meghan and Harry of their titles that they trade off so cynically, and instruct Palace officials to tell heads of foreign governments that they must stop issuing formal tour invitations of this nature to this greedy two-faced pair who want to have their royal cake and eat it.
