Telegraph:
‘What is the most insecure job in the world? The contenders are many. For the past nine years, being the British prime minister has been up there with the worst of them. In the decade before that, being a non-Mutya member of the Sugababes was about as precarious as employment could get.
The leader of Ukip? True – for a while, that seemed to change every other month, until people stopped caring. Playing inside centre for the England rugby team? Fair enough – after Will Greenwood, it became a revolving door. Manchester United manager? Leonardo DiCaprio’s girlfriend?
All good options. But the correct answer, as confirmed this week with the departure of another brief holder of the post, is publicist to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Having just lost number 11 in five years, that office now has an attrition rate somewhere between Countdown presenter and Napoleonic infantry. Some chalices are poisoned; others are radioactive to the touch.
The latest person to give up on Montecito is Meredith Maines, who was appointed at the end of 2024 as chief communications officer, responsible for leading press and media operations for the couple. She will now be “pursuing a new opportunity” after “a year of inspiring work” that has included the launch of Meghan’s As Ever lifestyle brand, media production company Archewell Productions, and Archewell Philanthropies, the couple’s joint charity.
Meredith Maines, the Sussexes’ chief communications officer for the past year, has stepped down and will ‘pursue a new opportunity’ Credit: LinkedIn
In a statement, Maines said she has “the utmost respect for the couple and the team, and the good they are doing in the world.” Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan, who have also parted ways with the PR firm Method Communications, offered their own reference. Gird yourself, for the warmth and affection is profound: “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.”
One of the first things Maines did when she joined Team Sussex was oversee the loss of six members of staff, including two senior members of the communications team, in a streamlining exercise last June. That she has now had her own exit interview has come as a surprise, even in an organisation with a higher leadership turnover than a relegation-zone football club.
Naturally, then, there are theories about what might really be going on. One faction of royal watchers insists that Maines has been given the heave-ho after photographs of the Sussexes attending a party thrown by the Kardashians were mysteriously deleted (in a saga too tedious even to describe here). Was it a sackable offence? You never know.
Another theory holds that the publication in July of photographs showing Maines meeting King Charles’s communications secretary, Tobyn Andreae – allegedly to discuss a potential entente between Charles and Harry – angered the couple. A third suggests that Maines is, in fact, leaving on a high: that the meeting went well and that 2026 may be a year of reconciliation. The rest of us are struggling to care less, merely wishing Harry and Meghan did a little less publicity.
Tobyn Andreae (left), King Charles’s communications secretary Credit: Max Mumby/Indigo
That cynicism offers a reasonable point. Working on the ancient principle that all publicity is good publicity, getting the word out about Meghan and Harry’s existence is surely among the easier jobs on the planet rather than the hardest. As this writer can attest, the couple do not go unnoticed by the world’s media pundits, and between their Netflix series, podcasts, public appearances, TV interviews and social media, the Sussexes are hardly short of platforms.
So how exactly they have ended up losing an average of 2.2 publicists per year is a puzzle. Maines is the 11th, but if you can name any of the other 10 without reading ahead, feel free to write in and claim a prize. There was Emily Robinson, a former lead publicist on Netflix’s The Crown, who lasted only four months over the summer, leaving with a “friend” telling the Daily Mail: “She’s not a quitter, so things must have been pretty horrible for her to go.”
Emily Robinson left the Sussexes’ team after just four months
Before Emily came Ashley Hansen, and before her, Kyle Boulia, who was one of the six staff members to leave in June’s reshuffle. Before them were Charlie Gipson, Toya Holness, Josh Kettler, Christine Schirmer, Miranda Barbot, James Holt and, for your Pointless answer, Deesha Tank.
Before Emily came Ashley Hansen, and before her, Kyle Boulia, one of six staff members to leave in June’s reshuffle. Before them were Charlie Gipson, Toya Holness, Josh Kettler, Christine Schirmer, Miranda Barbot, James Holt and – for your Pointless answer – Deesha Tank.
Holt, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s longest-serving member of staff, left their charity on Monday, ending a nearly decade-long association with the couple during which he took on the publicist role as they transitioned from the UK to the US.
James Holt was the executive director of Archewell and moved to California with the Duke and Duchess of SussexCredit: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images
Some of those who previously held the post remain within the broader Sussex operation, but others left and did not return, walking away from a working environment that has been accused of being toxic or, at the very least, exhaustingly chaotic. Earlier this year, Vanity Fair reported that several staff members required “long-term therapy” or took extended breaks after working for the Duchess in particular. The Sussexes have long denied the allegations of bullying made against them.
Part of the issue is surely that Harry and Meghan do not actually know what they wish to communicate to the world. Is the message that they want privacy or publicity? Are they celebrities or dignitaries? For how long will they define themselves by what they chose to leave, rather than by what they would like to do next? Is “sprinkle a fine dusting of edible flowers on everything” enough of a manifesto to work from? Put that way, the task of weaving a new narrative doesn’t look quite so easy.
Miranda Barbot, part of the revolving cast of communications figures who have left the Sussex operationCredit: Karwai Tang/WireImage
And so, perhaps it’s not surprising that their communications team has adopted a strategy similar to the Have I Got News For You hosting chair: a carousel of different people, rather than it somehow always being Alexander Armstrong or Martin Clunes whenever you check.
Maybe it will become like jury service, and any of us could be summoned for a short stint ghost-writing Meghan’s Instagram captions and forcefully emailing Anna Wintour to ask whether any of the quiet months are free for a magazine cover. Or like national service, where we’ll all have to do two years of hard labour to build our character and experience real conflict.
Until a decision is reached on that, it is understood that Liam Maguire, the couple’s UK and Europe director of communications, will step up to lead on all publicity-related work. Well thought of and highly experienced, Maguire has worked with Harry for over a decade.
He now becomes the leader, and great survivor, of a regime that could field a full cricket team of ousted PR heads since 2020. Now there’s an idea for a headline-grabbing stunt…’
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/29/meghan-harry-and-the-worst-job-in-the-world/