The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have lost their 11th publicist in five years after it was announced that Meredith Maines, the couple’s chief communications officer, was stepping down.
During her tenure, she helped to orchestrate a brief reunion between Prince Harry and his father over tea at Clarence House in September, the first meeting between the King and his younger son for 19 months.
The departure of Maines will be a blow to the Sussexes, coming so soon after the loss of several other communications executives.
In July, Charlie Gipson, the Sussexes’ European communications director, left his post a month after Kyle Boulia, the couple’s US-based press secretary.
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Both were in their roles for a little over a year. Some, however, have served even shorter terms.
Josh Kettler quit his role as Harry’s chief of staff in August 2024 after just three months. He had been hired to “guide” Harry through the next phase of his career and had travelled with the Sussexes on their visit to Nigeria. He left his position before a planned trip to Colombia.
One of Maines’s achievements, it seems, was to arrange a rapprochement of sorts between Harry and the palace.
Meghan and Harry in Nigeria this year
ANDREW ESIEBO/GETTY IMAGES FOR THE ARCHEWELL FOUNDATION
In July, Maines travelled to London and, alongside Liam Maguire, the Sussexes’ UK-based European director of communications, held a meeting with Tobyn Andreae, the King’s director of communications.
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Both sides were said to be surprised, however, to find that a few days later the details of the meeting, along with a paparazzi picture, had appeared in a Sunday newspaper.
Tobyn Andreae
MARK CUTHBERT/UK PRESS VIA GETTY IMAGES
Whether it was leaked deliberately or not, the meeting led to Harry’s brief reunion with his father two months later.
The truce later appeared to have stalled when the Sussexes’ PR team accused palace aides of trying to “sabotage” the reconciliation efforts between the King and his son after it was reported that Harry had presented his father with a framed family photograph during the visit.
The palace hit back, with a source saying that courtiers were “bemused, perplexed and saddened” by the allegations of a leak.
Maines’s departure comes after Meghan and Harry attended a birthday party hosted by Kris Jenner, 70, the night before the UK marked Remembrance Sunday. Images of the Sussexes briefly appeared on social media before they were taken down.
There had been rumours of Maines’s departure for several weeks before it was reported in The Sun on Friday.
The Daily Mail reported that when it first approached the Sussexes about the rumours that Maines was leaving the role in November, it was told it was a “ridiculous” suggestion.
The Daily Mail quoted another source who described it as “a miserable and impossible job”.
A month on, both sides have now issued statements saying that Maines’s company, Method Communications, has ceased working with Archewell, the foundation established by Harry and Meghan.
A spokesman for the Sussexes said: “Meredith Maines and Method Communications have concluded their work with Archewell. The Duke and Duchess are grateful for their contributions and wish them well.”
Another source pointed to Maines’s successes with Meghan’s As Ever brand, telling the Daily Mail: “Meredith feels that she has done what she set out to do. She launched the show and the brand and the website. She also got Harry to meet with his father in September, which was a priority that they set out to achieve.”
Whoever steps in as a replacement for Maines will be hoping to avoid a repeat of some recent public relations pitfalls.
When Meghan made a surprise visit to a fashion show in Paris in October, the duchess was criticised for posting a video of herself on Instagram, in which she was being driven at night along the Seine, the same route taken by Princess Diana on the night she died.
Meanwhile, an anecdote in a largely positive magazine article about Meghan, which was published in Harper’s Bazaar and posted on Maines’s LinkedIn profile, was held up for ridicule by critics for the way in which her royal title was used.
The article said that during a visit to a house in New York, “the house manager announces, ‘Meghan, Duchess of Sussex,’ even though we appear to be the only other two people in the house.”
A replacement for Maines has yet to be announced.
Despite various departures from their team, the Sussexes retain the services of James Holt, who serves as executive director of their Archewell Philanthropies, formerly the Archewell Foundation.
Holt, a British executive based in the US, previously worked as director of communications for the Liberal Democrats.