Analysis of the Month: The False Aide Equivalency
Staffing updates are predictably misinterpreted: A Comparison of Staff Retention between House Wales and House Montecito
Part of the reason why I created this Substack was because as a History Major, I felt Royal watching discourse had crated to shameless clickbait. So I created this Newsletter series called “Analysis of the Month” where I do an even greater deep dive on a topic. My hope is readers walk away with a greater understanding of the subject matter and grow their gossip knowledge. Luckily, this month’s deep dive is FREE! This is a long newsletter as there’s a lot of Royal Tea to cover. Grab your favorite beverage and snack, get comfy, and keep scrolling! If your hands are full, don’t forget, there’s also an option to “listen” to this post via the Transcribe feature on Substack. If you aren’t already subscribed to HRH Royal Tea, subscribe now below!
Hello Readers!
I hope everyone’s been having a good and restful weekend! I certainly was, until about two hours ago when I made the mistake of reading the replies to a tweet from Royal Rota reporter Roya Nikkhah at The Sunday Times
“William’s Private Secretary QUITS!”
Due to this instigative headline, Nikkhah’s replies are predictably being swarmed by supporters of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. ICYMI, this staff update is a sure sign that Prince William is a “big bully”. Why is there “so much restructuring”?! Everyone’s “leaving the sinking ship”. You can almost smell the desperation to cast the Prince and Princess of Wales as dodgy, difficult bosses as a means of justice for Meghan. Upon closer investigation, it couldn’t be further from the truth.
Ever since the workplace complaints against the Duke and Duchess of Sussex came to light in March 2021 (which were corroborated heavily in Courtiers by another Royal Rota reporter Valentine Low), any time staffing decisions make the news, there’s always a big brouhaha online. If the supporters of Harry and Meghan had actually read the article, the fourth paragraph would’ve told them that Jean-Christophe Gray’s position as Private Secretary to Prince William always had a countdown to when he would leave. Gray was on Secondment.
For those unfamiliar, secondment is a term used when an employee works in a different job position, but only on a temporary arrangement. This temporary transfer can include working for a different internal position within an organization. Or, it could be with different organizations altogether. Secondments can be used to build professional relationships, stabilize job relations, as well as grow career development by learning skills outside one’s comfort zone. It’s also important to note that secondment is not the same as an alternative placement or lateral career move. After a secondment period, the employee (or “secondee”) will ultimately return to their original employer. That’s what’s happening here: After three years, Gray is returning to his old post as Whitehall in the Treasury Department.
Gray, as HRH Royal Tea readers will remember, had only been in his post for three weeks before being tasked with helping the former-known-as Duke and Duchess of Cambridge craft a response to the Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah. Gray was the individual who came up with the “recollections may vary” line, which Kate Middleton fought to keep. (For more on this, read the below newsletter.)
"History Will Judge Us"
Valentine Low, a long time Royal Rota reporter for the Times and Sunday Times always knows how to start a story off with a bang. His book Courtiers released last November gave a comprehensive history of the “power behind th…
So, sorry to burst some people’s bubbles, but three years on a secondment post does not mean Prince William is a bully. Why am I getting a feeling of déjà vu? Because in March of this year The Telegraph reported on the The Princess of Wales’s prospective new hire for a Private Secretary position decided to stay where she was due to being uncomfortable with the high profile nature of the job:
Alison Corfield, 51, is understood to have been uncomfortable with the prospect of having such a high-profile position and decided instead to remain under the radar.
The mother of three, a branding and marketing expert, has worked with Oliver for eight years. A source said: “She loves the work and is an integral member of the campaigning team.
“She decided she just wanted to keep her head down and get on with the job she knows so well in the background. She didn't want the publicity that comes with working at that level for such a well-known institution.”
At the time her potential hire was floated, Corfield was described as a “‘ball-breaker’ who is likely to ‘run rings around the courtiers’ at Kensington Palace.” I confess to letting out a Scooby Doo-like “Run-roh” when I first read that passage. A “ball buster” who was so amazing, she’d “run circles” around people who had been doing that job for years? I’m all for gumption, confidence and hitting the ground running. But that is not the style of Kensington Palace. Boasting about how much more equipped you are compared to tenured employees is not a good look and a part of me did wonder if this would be the best fit.
Not everyone is able to handle to press, the intrusion and the microscope that is working for a Senior member of the Royal family. It’s likely Corfield didn’t think it was a good fit, so she decided to call it and there are no hard feelings. But things are rarely ever so cut and dry when online defenders have transparent agendas. When news of this broke, the same thing happened: People on the Internets were screaming for the hills. Corfield not wanting the job had to mean “there’s a problem” working for the Wales’s. It was a “sign of double standards” this story wasn’t being covered like when the Sussexes stood accused of mistreating their staff.
“Kate has had three Private secretaries in five years!!”
While this is technically true, it’s not the full story. So I decided now would be a good of a time as ever to re-up and update my research into whether or not double standards exist. Read on for a breakdown of staff retention and staff turnover for the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. We’ll start off with the Princess Catherine and Duchess Meghan as their staff moves are more interesting, then we’ll move on to the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex.
Princess Catherine
Hannah Cockburn-Logie (May 2016 - Oct 2022)
Hannah Cockburn-Logie started working for formerly-known-as Duke and Duchess of Cambridge back in May of 2016. Before working at Kensington Palace, she had a previous job as a British diplomat based in New Delhi and helped organize several visits tours as part of her station. She established a relationship with Prince William and Princess Catherine in 2016 when she accompanied them on their seven-day visit to India and Bhutan. They loved working with her so much, they asked her to come on to their team in an official capacity
In June of 2020, Cockburn-Logie was promoted to Private Secretary and held the job until October of 2022. It’s said that her mother was ill due to complications of long COVID and she had to step down due to wanting to spend more time with her, which Catherine understood and supported. As Princess of Wales, Kensington Palace would likely see an influx of responsibility and family is important. So even though Cockburn-Logie held the Private Secretary position for two years, she still worked hand in hand with the Princes and Princess of Wales for over eight years. Her tenure was almost as long as Prince Harry’s tenure in the army.
Catherine Quinn (Oct 2017 - Jan 2020)
William and Catherine did not become full-time royals until 2017. Before that, the Prince of Wales worked in the RAF as a Search and Rescue pilot and he and his family lived in Anglesey. When they made the shift to becoming full-time royals, King Charles shelled out the big bucks, via the Duchy of Cornwall, to hire someone seasoned and accomplished to help his daughter-in-law make the transition. Enter Catherine Quinn. She’d been working a chief operating officer at the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School, and previously held the position of head of grant-giving at global charitable healthcare foundation the Wellcome Trust. She also had positions on the boards of The Charity Commission for England and Wales, The Met Office, The Royal British Legion and The National Memorial Arboretum.
Whilst people working for the Palace get anywhere from low to mid five figures, Quinn received a six-figure salary paid for by then-Prince Charles, through his private income from the Duchy of Cornwall. It was the only way someone of her caliber would agree to work for the Palace. After a little over two years, she stepped down and they parted on “great terms”. Quinn was an aide who stayed for two years and we never heard a peep about unprofessionalism.
Natalie Burrows (2017 - Current)
Natalie Burrows began her career at Kensington Palace as Assistant Private Secretary to the then-Duchess of Cambridge in 2017. Not much is known about her, but she is described as her “trusted right-hand woman”. Burrows’s post is one similar to the Chief of Staff, and she is responsible for organizing things like the Princess’s diaries, travel, and correspondence, and ensuring she is briefed prior to all official engagements. She is the interim-Private Secretary while they look for replacement. Six years and counting of employment.
Sophie Agnew (2012 - 2019)
Sophie Agnew was put in charge of the Duchess's personal assistants and had worked for Catherine for seven years. She joined the couple on their 2014 trip to Australia and New Zealand and was often seen accompanying the Royals on their international trips. Seven years of tenure.
Natasha Archer (2011 - Current)
Natasha Archer began working for William and Catherine in 2011 as a personal assistant at Kensington Palace. She was promoted to stylist in 2014 after giving the then-Duchess fashion advice and has worked with her ever since. Twelve years of tenure and counting.
And then we have the “ball-breaker” Allison Corfield who decided to stay in her current role with Jaime Oliver because the public nature of the Kensington Palace job was not her speed. That’s it. Looking at her secretaries and personal assistants, the Princess of Wales averaged a normal tenure of at least 5 years. Nothing to sneeze at! Now. Lets take a look at the aides of whom Catherine’s detractors are comparing her to…
Meghan Markle
Melissa Touabti (Quit after six months)
Melissa Touabti, the Duchess's former personal assistant, had previously worked for Robbie Williams and Madonna and well experienced in the PA space. She played a key role in preparations for Meghan and Harry's wedding in May 2018, but quit after just six months on the job. After she quit, she took a job with the billionaire Livingstone family – owners of the stately home Cliveden in England. Melissa was one of the aides who the Duchess of Sussex was accused of bullying out of the Firm. A particularly harrowing episode was documented in The Times about a separate PA who left a little before Melissa:
One incident rang alarm bells about Meghan’s unattainably precise demands. A senior royal source claimed: “Soon after the engagement, Meghan hosted a shooting party at Sandringham for Harry’s friends. She ordered personally embroidered blankets for each of the guests, in red. When they arrived, they weren’t the right shade of red for Meghan and she went mental at her PA, Harry’s first PA was in situ when Meghan arrived and left within months.” Her next PA, Melissa Touabti, was alleged to have later left “traumatised” because of Meghan’s unreasonable behaviour.
There has been nothing of this magnitude or description ever attributed to the Prince and Princess of Wales. If there is, I would love to see it.
Jason Knauf (2018 - 2019)
Jason Knauf served as Communications Secretary to the “Fab Four” (William, Kate, Harry and Meghan) before the Cambridges and Sussexes created separate offices in March 2019. He facilitated the Sussexes providing material to their friend and biographer Omid Scobie for the book he was writing and at times, tried to save them from themselves. (For more background in this, read the newsletter linked below)
"We have to be able to say we had nothing to do with it."
This article is free for subscribers and visitors alike. HRH Royal Tea is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Victoria Ward, Royal Correspondent at the Telegraph has had a very busy we…
By November of 2018 though, the relationship between Knauf and the Sussexes had deteriorated and he left on January of 2019.
In the months after the South Pacific tour, the relationship between Jason Knauf and Harry and Meghan was effectively over, even though Knauf was still officially in charge of their media operation. In December, Meghan, wearing a black one-shoulder Givenchy dress, made a surprise appearance at the British Fashion Awards at the Royal Albert Hall, where she presented an award to Clare Waight Keller, who had designed her wedding dress. Knauf had no idea it was happening until Meghan was on stage. She had refused to let Sam Cohen or her assistant private secretary, Amy Pickerill, tell him it was happening.
After resigning, he was not done with Royal life. He moved to working for the Royal Foundation with Prince William and Princess Catherine shortly after and stayed there for two years. He is currently an advisor for their Royal Foundation.
Samantha Cohen (2018 - 2019)
Samantha Cohen had already handed in her notice at Buckingham Palace, but just as she was preparing to leave after 17 years, the Queen, who had a high regard for her, asked her to stay on and help Harry and Meghan. Cohen was one of the most popular and well-regarded members of the Queen’s household and it was important to the Queen to make sure Meghan felt supported in her new role. It was announced shortly after the Sussexes married that Samantha Cohen would be stepping in to help the couple out for six months as their Interim Private Secretary. It quickly went to hell in a hand basket:
One source said that Samantha Cohen had been bullied. Another said: “They treated her terribly. Nothing was ever good enough. It was, ‘She doesn’t understand. She’s failing.’ ” In fact, the source said, Cohen was “a saint” and the best organizer of royal tours they had known.
Knauf, who was in daily contact with staff on the tour, went on to say that the tour was “very challenging” and was “made worse by the behaviour of the duchess”. He also expressed concerns about his own standing and suggested that even Samantha Cohen could be struggling to cope.
“Sam had been screamed at before the flight and during.” After that, she warned other staff to stay away from Harry and Meghan for the rest of the day. That evening, her colleagues tried to arrange matters so that she did not have to see Harry and Meghan any more than was strictly necessary. “It was so horrible to see yesterday,” one said the next day. According to one source, David Manning, who was always a reassuring presence on tours, would say, “You are dealing with a very difficult lady.”
She was at her wits end as her tenure came to a close:
Meanwhile, Cohen was clearly delighted to be getting out soon. A source once said: “Sam always made clear that it was like working for a couple of teenagers. They were impossible and pushed her to the limit. She was miserable.”
Cohen “was at her wits’ end”, said a friend. She was exhausted, had stayed on with the Sussexes for longer than she originally planned and felt isolated from the rest of the royal hierarchy now that she was no longer in the Queen’s private office. “She was constantly having to battle on Harry and Meghan’s behalf, while taking all this abuse from them.”
She also found herself getting far more involved in arranging their personal lives than would normally be appropriate for a private secretary, who, despite the job title, is just there to look after their official lives.
If anyone can direct me to compelling testimony regarding the Prince and Princess of Wales treating their staff this way, please drop a comment on this post.
Amy Pickerill (Jan 2018 - Feb 2019)
To help manage Meghan’s royal duties, Prince Harry enlisted Senior Communications Officer Amy Pickerill, who made her first public appearance with the royals during their visit to Cardiff Castle.
She’d already been working with the royals for over a year already, helping the FKA Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as well as Prince Harry with their official duties. About a year later, after months of unhappiness, she handed in her notice. It did not go well:
Next to go was Meghan’s assistant private secretary, Amy Pickerill. At the time, sources said the departure – described by Meghan as “very sad” – was amicable. In fact, when Meghan learnt that Pickerill had handed in her notice, she was so angry that she refused to let Pickerill travel with her in the car to an official engagement in London that morning.
Like Knauf, it seems that it working for Royals wholesale wasn’t what Pickerill had issues with. It was certain royals she could not handle. The behavior described above is petty and unprofessional. Who bars someone not riding in the same car as you? After leaving the employ of the Sussexes, she moved to work with the Cambridges at Earthshot shortly after. She still resides there now.
I could go on, but you get my point. In the months following Meghan’s entrance to the Firm, her female police protection officer, the queen’s former aide Samantha Cohen, her PA Melissa Touabti, Jason Knauf, Amy Pickerill and others left in quick succession after about a year and change. I know what people will say. Perhaps it was the “stuffy Palace atmosphere” who couldn’t deal with a “strong” woman. It’s possible the Palace staff “had it out for her”. Interestingly, this pattern of steadily losing employees continued even after they escaped to Montecito:
Catherine St-Laurent (Apr 2021 - Mar 2021)
At the time of Catherine St-Laurent’s appointment as Director/CEO of Archewell in April 2020, the Sussexes called her an “incredible asset”, adding: “We are excited to have her on our team.”
But 11 months later, St-Laurent stepped down from a position many had thought would occupy her for years. Not dissimilar to Sam Cohen, she also felt like she was taking on a role that was not within her job responsibilities:
Although sources close to the duke and duchess insist Catherine will continue to work for the couple in an advisory capacity, insiders have claimed the strategist “wanted out”.
“I think there was a sense she was having to fulfill a great many functions for the couple – not all of which were necessarily in her job spec,” a well-placed insider claims.
St-Laurent was replaced by:
Mandana Dayani (Apr 2021 - Nov 2022)
Mandana Dayani was considered the right-hand woman of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. At Archewell she was in charge of overseeing day-to-day operations, but she lasted in the position for only 18 months.
She resigned in November of 2022, the second CEO in as many years. After this second CEO quit, the Sussexes decided to not hire a replacement and Archewell has been CEO-less for almost a year.
Rebecca Sananès (July 2021 - Oct 2022)
Rebecca Sananès was hired as Head of Archewell Audio in July 2021 and the mastermind behind the Duchess of Sussex’s Spotify podcast Archetypes . She left in October 2022, halfway through the run of Archetypes, but not before posting a TikTok about how “producers never get enough credit” for the work they do. She later guest-starred on a podcast after news broke of the Sussexes getting booted from Spotify. Without giving too much away, she chided the industry for “giving money to people who don’t even know how to create”. I wonder who she was talking about…
Toya Holness (Oct 2020 - April 2022)
Toya Holness was hired as Press Secretary in October 2020 and was tasked with handling the Sussexes public facing engagements. In her previous role, she led communications at the New York City Department of Education. This work experience was likely why she was tasked with organizing the Sussexes trip to New York City in 2021. You know, the trip where Archewell attempted to silence majority African American students at an impoverished school. Holness left about six months later in April 2022, but to this day, she remains one of the longest tenured employees at Archewell. (For more background on the Holness trying to do her job read the below newsletter)
Prince William and Kate Middleton Visited a Low-Income School and Tried to GAG Teachers and Children as Young as 5.*
Were the children silent or were they SILENCED? Sorry. I had to do it. If you read the headline to this post and got angry, then read the byline and felt the wind being taken out of your sails, this story is for you. Much has been made online regarding double standards in coverage between the Duchess of Sussex and the Princess of Wales, after all. Let’s get to it!
Ben Browning (March 2021 - February 2023)
Ben Browning was hired as head of content for Archewell Productions and Archewell Audio. He was poached from his previous job and said:
“From the moment they shared their vision for Archewell as a global production company that will spotlight diverse voices and share uplifting stories, I knew I wanted to help with this unique opportunity. It's a thrilling company to be starting."
He went back to his old company earlier this spring.
Fara Taylor (Sept 2021 - Feb 2023)
Fara Taylor was hired as the Head of Marketing at Archewell in September 2021 and it was announced she was stepping down in January 2023. She was poached from Sony Pictures Entertainment. She and Ben Browning’s positions will not be backfilled.
This is not a comprehensive list of the staff that has quit Archewell. There are more employees who left: Christine Schirmer who stepped aside twice, Madeline Taylor (Meghan’s PA who quit after less than six months), Nicole Murphy who worked in Communications at Archewell, Sarah Reich (who served as Dayani’s PA) and Evan White a junior staff member from Production. But I can’t stay writing forever. Whether the Sussexes reside in England, fully ensconced in the bosom of the Firm or in California finding their freedom, fully independent, their issues with retaining staff for longer than a year or two is the rule rather than the exception. Kensington Palace’s employee turnover is in no way comparable to one woman realizing that a job in Kensington Palace is not the best thing for her or a civil servant’s three year Secondment term coming to a close.
And because I promised, here is a high level list of Prince William and Prince Harry’s staff. Up until 2013, they shared aides but the stepping down of their joint Private Secretary triggered a re-shuffle for Harry.
Prince William
Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton (2005 - 2013)
Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton was the Private Secretary to Prince William, Princess Catherine and Prince Harry for a total of seven years. He was seen as a father figure to both, but grew extremely close to Prince William. Their relationship is so close that he is one of Prince George’s godfathers. Though he stepped down as their Private Secretary, he is still listed as an advisor for the Prince and Princess of Wales’s charitable foundation and works one day a week at Kensington Palace. Showing his nearness to the Royal Family: Lowther-Pinkerton was photographed helping out the Wales family during Coronation rehearsals.
Miguel Head (2008-2018)
Miguel Head served as Communications Secretary to Prince William, Princess Catherine and Prince Harry for five years from 2008 to 2013. When Lowther-Pinkerton stepped down as Private Secretary, Head stepped into the role and served as Prince William’s Private Secretary for five years from 2013-2018. He announced he was stepping down in March of 2018, a couple of months before the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were married. Head was an inspired choice as a Private Secretary as he was not from an aristocratic family, was from Portugal, young and gay.
Simon Case (2018-2020)
When Head stepped down after ten years of service, Simon Case, became Private Secretary to Prince William. After two and a half years, Boris Johnson poached him to run the Civil Service. Fun fact: Case was referred to as “The Fly” in Prince Harry’s autobiography.
Christian Jones (2018-2021)
Christian Jones stepped in as interim Private Secretary to Prince William after Case’s exit. Jones had, up until that point, served as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s Communications Secretary from 2018-2020. He agreed to help with the transition and worked as Private Secretary for one year before leaving to work for a private equity firm. And now, we get to:
Jean-Christophe Gray (Feb 2021 - Mar 2024)
Mr. Recollections May Vary has served as Prince William’s Private Secretary for almost three years. As I explained earlier, he was on Secondment from Whitehall for three years and is slated to return next Spring. There is no evidence that he is “quitting” because of a noxious workplace environment. Everything points to his Secondment term nearing an end. So as you can see, Prince William has no trouble retaining staff. On average, people tend to stay on for around 4 to 6 years and though they may leave, employees are known to retain ties and stay on as advisors.
Prince Harry
Up until he got married, Harry shared staff with his brother. When Lowther-Pinkerton stepped down in 2013 and Miguel Head became Prince William’s Private Secretary, that triggered Harry to get his own.
Ed Lane Fox (2013-2018)
Ed Lane Fox was hired to be Prince Harry’s Private Secretary in after Lowther-Pinkerton stepped down. He was hired specifically to be a calming force on Prince Harry who, months earlier, was making headlines for his strip billiards game in Las Vegas. Fox is known for taking Harry under his wing and injecting gravitas to his platform. The Invictus Games was the brainchild of Fox, being a former British Army Officer himself. He saw it as a way to get Harry to focus and spent months lobbying the UK Defense Secretary and N.10 to allocate funding to the cause. He was also in charge of organizing the Royal Wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Shortly before the wedding, just a few weeks after Head announced he was stepping down, Fox announced he was retiring from the job after five years.
James Holt (2020-Current)
James Holt is Prince Harry’s longest serving aide and the only one they’ve retained after stepping down from Royal duties. In 2017, he worked at Director of Communications for the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry. But he didn’t start working for the Sussexes proper until September 2020 as their UK head of Engagement and Communications.
Following St-Laurent’s departure from the Archewell Foundation, Holt took over as executive director and “relocated to Hollywood from his home in Clapham”. Holt is a very loyal aide and appeared in their Netflix docuseries.
Palace staff are not paid handsomely. Sure, they get access to state events, comped homes and may rub shoulders with important people. At the end of the day it’s a civil/government job. People hold these roles out a sense of duty. If aides are unhappy with the treatment they receive, they will find a way to let it be known and a sympathetic reporter is never too far away. In my opinion, there is more than enough testimony out there to make me never want to take a job at Archewell.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the Analysis of the Month! Were you surprised by any of these hires and step downs? Let me know in the comments! Am I being too harsh?
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-Lady Sinclair