Chief communications officer for Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Meredith Maines has announced she is stepping down from her role, making her the eleventh PR officer in just five years to quit
09:49, 31 Dec 2025Updated 10:49, 31 Dec 2025
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have lost yet another PR officer(Image: Variety via Getty Images)
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s communications operation has once again come under scrutiny following further staff departures, with a PR expert claiming the pattern points to structural pressures rather than “bad hires”.
Meredith Maines, who was appointed at the end of 2024 to lead the press and media operations for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, has announced she is stepping down from the role after just a year working for the couple. It’ll come as a blow to the couple after Maines becomes the eleventh PR officer in just five years to have left their employments with the Sussexes.
PR expert Mayah Riaz says high turnover in senior communications roles is rarely the result of repeated poor recruitment. “From a PR perspective, a high turnover in comms almost always signals a deeper structural issue rather than a run of bad hires,” she told the Mirror.
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Meredith Maines has announced she is leaving the Sussexes communications team(Image: Linkedin)
Maines’ deputy, Liam Maguire, has been asked to step up as Chief Communications Officer (Image: Getty Images)
“In environments like Meghan and Harry’s, the pressure is uniquely intense. Every move is global, politicised and emotionally loaded.”
After Meredith’s departure was announced, one source told the Daily Mail: “Her tenure has been an absolute disaster. If she did in fact quit then she’s getting out to save face before it gets worse… She’s telling others that she is helping with the transition but this does not scream amicable to me.”
However, another hit back and said: “She really enjoyed her time there but at a certain point it is time to go… They begged her to stay to manage the transition of the Archewell Foundation and other transitions. She stayed to do that.
“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.”
Riaz says that high levels of scrutiny can create an unsustainable working environment for communications professionals, particularly when expectations around narrative control are high. “What stands out to me is the constant tension between control and credibility,” she said. “When clients want to micromanage narrative, react emotionally to coverage, or pivot strategy frequently, it creates an impossible working environment.”
According to Riaz, such conditions often result in teams being forced into a reactive mode rather than long-term planning.
The couple have previously been labelled hard to work with
“You end up with staff who are firefighting rather than strategically steering, and burnout follows quickly,” she added.
She also pointed to public moments that have sparked debate about the Sussexes’ brand positioning, including Meghan’s recent appearance at a Kris Jenner-hosted event.
Snaps from inside the glitzy party, attended by the whole Kardashian clan, were posted on social media by Kris as well as her daughter, Kim. They showed Harry and Meghan, dressed in all black as part of the event’s James Bond theme, dancing with Kris, while another showed Meghan posing alongside Kim.
But they were quickly deleted, with reports suggesting Harry and Meghan had signed a no photo consent form before the bash, but this was rejected by the Kardashian camp, who denied there had been forms, and said there had been a request to take the snaps down.
“To the public it looks like brand confusion,” Riaz said. “Are they distancing themselves from celebrity culture or leaning into it? Internally, moments like that can spark real conflict if comms teams are trying to uphold one positioning while the principals make choices that undermine it.”
Riaz added that trust can become an issue in high-profile environments where internal tensions and concerns over leaks may arise. “Once trust erodes, comms teams feel exposed,” she said. “No PR professional wants to be blamed for optics they did not create or decisions they did not sign off.”
She said repeated departures should be viewed as a sign of broader organisational strain rather than individual shortcomings. “If you’re burning through communicators, the message is not the problem – the ecosystem is,” Riaz said. “PR teams are mirrors. They reflect leadership style, decision-making and emotional temperature.”
Riaz added that stable communications teams require alignment and consistency from leadership.
“Without that, even the best PR people in the world will struggle to stay,” she said. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have previously denied suggestions of dysfunction within their team, with sources describing departures as part of normal turnover in a fast-moving global operation.
A spokesman for Harry and Meghan confirmed Meredith was leaving her role, adding: “Meredith Maines and Method Communications have concluded their work with Archewell. The duke and duchess are grateful for their contributions and wish them well.”
In a statement, Ms Maines said: “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 work they are doing in the world.”
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