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The royal family

As ever and PR disasters continued

1000 replies

AtIusvue · 07/12/2025 21:35

So Meghan lost her fathers number but is ringing round hospitals and will send a handwritten note, as per Sussex sources speaking through the Sun, the Telegraph and the Times.

I mean I have no idea, how it works with PR for very famous people, but surely there are scenarios they prep for?

Her dad is in his 80s, severely obese and has suffered ill health for years. You would think, there would be protocol in what to do should the worst happen.

That would include having up to date contact info. This isn’t something Meg would need to have/get involved with if she’s estranged, but surely ‘The Office of the DDOS’ would. Then engage in their set plan- whether that’s a public statement that this is a private affair or that contact has been made through the proper channels.

Whatever this is, it isn’t professional-it’s complete chaos.

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AtIusvue · 27/12/2025 08:33

Thedom · 27/12/2025 07:21

Some pretty telling statements from both camps,

M&H cold and abrupt

““Meredith Maines and Method Communications have concluded their work with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The Duke and Duchess are grateful for their contributions and wish them well“

Meredith trying to keep it professional through gritted teeth, in the hope of retaining some credibility. Still lying though, she was only working for them for 9 months or possibly less.

“After a year of inspiring work with Prince Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Archewell, I will be pursuing a new opportunity in 2026. I have the utmost gratitude and respect for the couple and the team, and the good they are doing in the world.

The spin is already happening with the rumours she had nothing to do with the twerking video being released, that was all Meghan, Meghan did not listen to advice, etc, etc, etc, Duchess Difficult rides again, Groundhog Day.

Good point. Contrast with Ashley (who had to make up she was setting up a business to escape. Also stated she would continue to work with Harry n Meg as clients….that never happened obviously. Now Ashley is a partner at Forward Global and she hired Kyle Boulia, whom Meg let go in the summer when she got rid of 6 staff.)

when Ashley left, very different to what Meredith got:

‘Meghan, on behalf of her and her husband, said the couple were “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,” she said.
“My husband and I are excited to be alongside Ashley as she builds something extraordinarily special with her firm.”

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Mylovelygreendress · 27/12/2025 08:56

Thedom · 26/12/2025 22:24

ThePoshUns · 25/11/2025 07:47
Blind gossip site on x indicating that Meredith Maines is quitting

There was a previous Blind that Meredith wasn’t being paid the agreed amount . Will have a look later .
She actually only started in March so didn’t last long at all .

Baital · 27/12/2025 08:58

IcedPurple · 27/12/2025 08:29

Prince Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Archewell

Ah yes, the illustrious Royal Dukedom of Sussex & Archewell!

Edited

This is one of my pet peeves!

If you want the title, embrace it, don't pick and choose. Or recognise it is meaningless and ignore it.

Be the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Be Prince and Princess Harry (Henry, actually).

Or Harry and Meghan, or Meghan and Harry.

Or Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (keep your maiden name).

But this weird combination of 'the bit if the title I want, but getting my name in somehow' is bizarre. Titles are archaic and patriarchal. Accept that or reject it.

ThePoshUns · 27/12/2025 09:00

Yes I saw that @Thedom. Isn’t TP one of their children’s godfather? Not a good look. And before anyone starts yes Andrew , we know ..

Mylovelygreendress · 27/12/2025 09:06

Baital · 27/12/2025 08:58

This is one of my pet peeves!

If you want the title, embrace it, don't pick and choose. Or recognise it is meaningless and ignore it.

Be the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Be Prince and Princess Harry (Henry, actually).

Or Harry and Meghan, or Meghan and Harry.

Or Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (keep your maiden name).

But this weird combination of 'the bit if the title I want, but getting my name in somehow' is bizarre. Titles are archaic and patriarchal. Accept that or reject it.

Meghan talking to OW about how titles weren’t important to her :

“All the grandeur surrounding this stuff is an attachment I don’t personally have.” She continued: “I’ve been a waitress, an actress, a princess, a Duchess—I’ve always still just been Meghan, right? I’ve been clear on who I am, independent of all that stuff, and the most important title I’ll ever have is mom. I know that.”

Baital · 27/12/2025 09:09

Mylovelygreendress · 27/12/2025 09:06

Meghan talking to OW about how titles weren’t important to her :

“All the grandeur surrounding this stuff is an attachment I don’t personally have.” She continued: “I’ve been a waitress, an actress, a princess, a Duchess—I’ve always still just been Meghan, right? I’ve been clear on who I am, independent of all that stuff, and the most important title I’ll ever have is mom. I know that.”

How lovely. So no need for staff to admit an (expected) visitor announcing 'the Duchess of Sussex' 😂

JSMill · 27/12/2025 09:10

ThePoshUns · 27/12/2025 09:00

Yes I saw that @Thedom. Isn’t TP one of their children’s godfather? Not a good look. And before anyone starts yes Andrew , we know ..

Yes TP is Lillibet’s godfather.

MrsFinkelstein · 27/12/2025 09:17

Mylovelygreendress · 27/12/2025 09:06

Meghan talking to OW about how titles weren’t important to her :

“All the grandeur surrounding this stuff is an attachment I don’t personally have.” She continued: “I’ve been a waitress, an actress, a princess, a Duchess—I’ve always still just been Meghan, right? I’ve been clear on who I am, independent of all that stuff, and the most important title I’ll ever have is mom. I know that.”

Anyone who honestly felt this way wouldn't be announced with their full title when someone enters the room, have the title embroidered on handbags & totes, have stationary notes with the full title, etc etc etc.

You can't do the faux humble act and still be announced as Duchess of Sussex everywhere you go.

elessar · 27/12/2025 09:23

AtIusvue · 26/12/2025 21:33

‘The couple are not expected to recruit another CCO to replace Meredith Maines and will use Liam Maguire, the UK and Europe director of communications, as lead instead.’

I think it’s a combination of them having deep financial issues and the absolute insanely bad ways the PR has been handled.

Ha! I guess Liam was the “he” who was being so aggressive and rude to the mail journo regarding the TM situation then! Wonder how he’s stuck around - maybe happy to use bully boy tactics on behalf of H&M?

I agree with you that the rest is likely to be a combination of financial issues and terrible terrible PR management. But I suspect more the latter. I don’t blame Meredith though - H&M are impossible to work for and don’t take advice, she might have been tearing her hair out all year as they lurch from one disaster to another. But of course they’ll never take any responsibility themselves.

What a way to round off an utterly humiliating year for them. I’m sure the erstwhile supporters will be along at some point to insist everything is fine and there’s nothing weird about yet another senior member of staff lasting only a few months.

AtIusvue · 27/12/2025 09:34

elessar · 27/12/2025 09:23

Ha! I guess Liam was the “he” who was being so aggressive and rude to the mail journo regarding the TM situation then! Wonder how he’s stuck around - maybe happy to use bully boy tactics on behalf of H&M?

I agree with you that the rest is likely to be a combination of financial issues and terrible terrible PR management. But I suspect more the latter. I don’t blame Meredith though - H&M are impossible to work for and don’t take advice, she might have been tearing her hair out all year as they lurch from one disaster to another. But of course they’ll never take any responsibility themselves.

What a way to round off an utterly humiliating year for them. I’m sure the erstwhile supporters will be along at some point to insist everything is fine and there’s nothing weird about yet another senior member of staff lasting only a few months.

Yes! That’s what I thought too. That it was Liam or someone from Method being aggressive with the DM journalist.

So it’s obvious Meredith has been gone for weeks. So too Method communications. So must be Liam.

If Liam is based in the UK, no wonder they were slow off the mark and made a disaster of her dad in hospital ….one guy working three time zones!

OP posts:
RockaLock · 27/12/2025 09:35

Baital · 27/12/2025 08:58

This is one of my pet peeves!

If you want the title, embrace it, don't pick and choose. Or recognise it is meaningless and ignore it.

Be the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Be Prince and Princess Harry (Henry, actually).

Or Harry and Meghan, or Meghan and Harry.

Or Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (keep your maiden name).

But this weird combination of 'the bit if the title I want, but getting my name in somehow' is bizarre. Titles are archaic and patriarchal. Accept that or reject it.

I think @IcedPurple was making the point that an Oxford comma would have been appropriate here?!

Mylovelygreendress · 27/12/2025 09:37

According to Chris Ship , “ sources” close to the Sussexes say that Meredith was not the right fit . Ouch .
One thing for sure - we can look forward to another year of Sussex shenanigans!

Superhansrantowindsor · 27/12/2025 09:38

Surely all this means they’ll come back. Look at how popular the Princess of Wales is. Surely they want that adulation. Add in their financial issues it makes sense to come back and start being royal again?

Mylovelygreendress · 27/12/2025 09:41

Superhansrantowindsor · 27/12/2025 09:38

Surely all this means they’ll come back. Look at how popular the Princess of Wales is. Surely they want that adulation. Add in their financial issues it makes sense to come back and start being royal again?

Meghan will never return to walking behind Catherine .
I simply cannot envisage circumstances where H and M would be welcomed back to the Royal fold. They have burned too many bridges .

Superhansrantowindsor · 27/12/2025 09:46

I agree she won’t want to be behind her - I was thinking more she’d try and be front and centre. I was watching some old footage the other day from around the engagement and her and Harry were being absolutely mobbed by fans. She will want that back and is so deluded she probably thinks she can have it. She wouldn’t be welcome - you’re right- but does she know that?

BillyBites · 27/12/2025 09:50

I don't think "coming back" is even an option. From anyone's point of view.

But I do wonder if, in their innermost hearts/quietest moments of reflection, either of them ever wonder if they could/should have done things differently from the off. Or maybe all roads led to this, taking into account the personalities involved.

bluegreygreen · 27/12/2025 09:54

Add in their financial issues it makes sense to come back and start being royal again?

Come back to the family and be looked after financially possibly - if they would be accepted. Not come back as working royals - they could never be trusted to do anything remotely diplomatic.

BillyBites · 27/12/2025 09:56

"She wouldn’t be welcome - you’re right- but does she know that?"

Oh, she knows it, all right. That's why, in my opinion, she will never set foot in this country again if she can help it. And I'm pretty sure she will put everything in the way of the kids doing so too.

What I can't decide is, whether Harry know this. And including his 'desire for his kids to know their birthright' in all the court stuff is all a red herring, designed to tug at people's heartstrings when what he actually wants is all the bells and whistles of 5* security (and the kudos that goes with that) at the click of a finger.

MrsLeonFarrell · 27/12/2025 09:57

Mylovelygreendress · 27/12/2025 09:37

According to Chris Ship , “ sources” close to the Sussexes say that Meredith was not the right fit . Ouch .
One thing for sure - we can look forward to another year of Sussex shenanigans!

That certainly conveys an impression that Meredith was trying to 'speak truth to power' and they either didn't listen or argued back until she gave up.

At what point might it occur to either of them that their way isn't working?

Mylovelygreendress · 27/12/2025 09:57

Superhansrantowindsor · 27/12/2025 09:46

I agree she won’t want to be behind her - I was thinking more she’d try and be front and centre. I was watching some old footage the other day from around the engagement and her and Harry were being absolutely mobbed by fans. She will want that back and is so deluded she probably thinks she can have it. She wouldn’t be welcome - you’re right- but does she know that?

You are absolutely correct about M and M being mobbed in the early days when the majority of British people warmly welcomed Meghan however that was before the racism accusations , tiara gate , accusations of bullying etc

JSMill · 27/12/2025 09:58

There’s no way back for them. I think KCIII made that clear when he spoke to the nation after QEII died. He announced W and C would be the P and P of W and wished Harry and Meghan luck in their life abroad. I am positive that H regrets his decision. It’s clear from the way he does those pseudo royal visits, like the recent visit to fire fighters in California, that he misses that life.

BillyBites · 27/12/2025 09:59

Oh yes. "Racist Britain" rejecting Meghan.
Must have imagined all those millions of people rejoicing and celebrating their wedding.

RedTagAlan · 27/12/2025 10:05

Mylovelygreendress · 27/12/2025 09:41

Meghan will never return to walking behind Catherine .
I simply cannot envisage circumstances where H and M would be welcomed back to the Royal fold. They have burned too many bridges .

Yeah, it's a weird and amusing thing really, to me anyway.

Catherine and Meghan are both commoners married in, but they fall into the hierarchy of royal rank. I don't mean that in a bad way about them, it's just the nature of the job.

I saw some of the Christmas Sandringham Church walk photos, and tho it is King and Queen at the front, there seemed to be no order behind. But if it had been a formal event, then there would have been a specific order of procession.

And looking at those photos, there is only one woman who can be promoted in rank. The rest will be static or move down the scale. But everyone in the photos appears to be happy enough with their lot. And what a nice lot to draw, or have drawn.

IcedPurple · 27/12/2025 10:15

RockaLock · 27/12/2025 09:35

I think @IcedPurple was making the point that an Oxford comma would have been appropriate here?!

Yes, that was kind of what I was getting at.

"Prince Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Archewell" sounds like 'Sussex and Archewell' are one entity.

Apart from the fact that it's incredibly gauche to use British peerage titles outside of that context, they always phrase them incorrectly.

AtIusvue · 27/12/2025 10:24

This article from the telegraph in the summer when they got rid of six staff. Says the writing was in the wall after the vanity fair article. So maybe Harpers finished Meredith off?

  • Last week, we heard three staff have left Archewell.
  • The Crown PR woman hired in the summer left in October I think.

From the reading below and now that Meredith, Method and the other 4 staff have gone have gone, I think that they have left:

  • Chief of staff each (they are just PAs)
  • Liam McGuire for PR
  • They state that have another agency to replace Method…but yet to see any evidence
  • James Holt and Shauna Nep at Archewell ( although how long they will last ….as the new structure means the financial sponsor has admin staff to cover)

This year they have let go/lost 12 staff…that haven’t been replaced plus Method communications (although they state they have a replacement for them)

That’s not them unhappy with their staffs work, otherwise they would be replaced. They can’t afford this level of staffing and have a skeleton crew now. High costs is also why they have had to close the Foundation.

Telegraph:

‘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
Deesha Tank, director of communications at Archewell, has left, as has a personal assistant and Meghan’s social media manager.

Kyle Boulia, the couple’s Los Angeles-based deputy press secretary, has left Credit: Jon Kopaloff/Getty
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 had 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.

Deesha Tank, director of communications at Archewell, has moved on
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.

Miranda Barbot has been promoted to Prince Harry’s chief of staff Credit: WireImage/Karwai Tang
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.”

Sarah Fosmo is now the Duchess of Sussex’s chief of staff
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.

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