Prince Harry, 40, and Meghan Markle, 43, have decided to cut ties with several members of their communications team to handle their finances more carefully and save money, according to a report by Page Six.
It’s not clear if the couple is having money problems, even though their Netflix projects like their hit docu-series Harry & Meghan and Meghan’s show With Love, Meghan, have been very successful. They signed a Netflix deal reportedly worth up to $100 million, but that contract is expected to end later this year.
Recently, they parted ways with Kyle Boulia, their deputy press secretary in Los Angeles, as well as Charlie Gipson, who was their European communications director. They also let go of Deesha Tank, Archewell’s director of communications, and Lianne Cashin, who was previously head of operations at Archewell.
Since moving to the US and stepping back from royal duties, Harry and Meghan have seen up to 25 staff members leave their employment. Some reports have also suggested Meghan didn’t always have the best working relationships with former staff. One royal insider joked to Page Six that the couple goes through staff “as quickly as normal people cycle through toilet paper,” adding that even milk lasts longer than their employees.
Despite the cuts, Meredith Maines remains their chief communications officer. She joined in February after their last PR head, Ashley Hansen, left to start her own business. The only in-house team member left is Emily Robinson, who interestingly used to work on The Crown, the Netflix series about the royal family.
Maines has also hired an outside PR team from Method Communications to help. She explained that as Harry and Meghan’s business and charity work continues to grow, they decided to switch to a more typical model by using a specialized agency. This means moving from a small team of two to an agency team of eight people working across five time zones. She said this setup will make it easier and faster for international media and partners to get responses.
