Both current and former staff working for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been speaking out about what it is really like to work for the couple – and also revealed a detail about the emails that Meghan sends
Staff working for Meghan Markle have revealed a detail about the emails she sends to them as a row has erupted about what it is like to work for her and Prince Harry.
Since moving to the US four years ago, the pair have earned a reputation for having a high staff turnover at their Archewell organisation. And just last week, there were allegations that Meghan “belittles people” and “doesn’t take advice” with claims it has earned her the nickname “Duchess Difficult”.
The allegations were made in industry bible, the Hollywood Reporter, with its co-editor-in-chief saying the claims came from a very high-up source who works for the couple. However, several current and former staffers have also spoken out of their experiences of working at Archewell and hit back against the claims, with one letting slip something they say Meghan includes on every email she sends.
It comes after one big claim made by the Hollywood Reporter in their damning piece on Meghan is that she fires off “angry emails at 5am to employees”. However, one unnamed current employee told US Weekly they’ve never heard Meghan yell and that she “gives clear direction and is solution-oriented”. They also claim that Meghan’s email signature reads: “My working day may not be your working day. Please do not feel obliged to reply to this email outside your normal working hours” – proof, they feel, that she wasn’t demanding.
One of the most notable people to also speak out in US Weekly is Josh Kettler, who lasted just three months in the role of Harry’s chief of staff before his departure last month.
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Eyebrows were raised when the seasoned public relations professional left his role after just weeks after he was reportedly hired to “guide him [Harry] through his next phase”. News of him stepping down came on the eve of Harry and Meghan’s high-profile trip to Colombia.
Mr Kettler, who had previously been chief of staff and head of strategic partnerships at the communication platform Cognixion, revealed that he was “warmly welcomed” by both of them and their Archewell team. He added: “They are dedicated and hardworking. It was impressive to witness.”
Another staff member who also talked to the magazine is the couple’s current global press secretary Ashley Hansen, who says her bosses could not be more supportive. She explains that she was forced to take time off work following a serious surgery – and was afterwards inundated with supportive phone calls, care packages and flowers from Meghan.
She said: “When I told them, I was met with the kind of concern and care a parent would express if it were their own child.” She added: “Most profoundly to me, Meghan would personally reach out to my husband daily to make sure that we both were OK and had support. It meant so much to him and even more to me. You don’t realise how much that kind of kindness and thought means until you need it.”
Meanwhile, others say they’ve been “dumbfounded” by the latest “Duchess Difficult” claims with one anonymous staff telling the magazine: “This is the first company I’ve worked [where I] liked every person. Harry and Meghan picked the best of the best from every field and watered the seeds for them to flourish. We have an enormous microscope on us. But good things are happening.”
