Harry and Meghan's staff lose their jobs as royal couple prepare to leave
Staff who work for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are being made redundant as Buckingham Palace prepares to shut down their office.
It’s thought around 15 members of the Royal Household, who have been employed to work for Harry and Meghan, will have to leave their jobs in the Spring.
It’s the inevitable consequence of the Sussexes’ decision to step down as working members of the Royal Family and move to North America.
Buckingham Palace had set up a separate household, at the couple’s request, when they split their office from Harry’s brother and sister-in-law William and Kate last year.
All four of the younger royals used to work out of Kensington Palace but a new office, with staff, was created for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex based in a suite of offices at Buckingham Palace.
Harry and Meghan hired an experienced communications chief, Sara Latham, who had previously worked for Hillary Clinton, to promote their work and deal with the media attention around them and their new son Archie.
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They also recently replaced their Private Secretary Samantha Cohen with a Foreign Office diplomat.
Ms Cohen left after the couple’s tour of South Africa, and a new Private Secretary, Fiona Mcilwham, was hired.
It is the most senior role in their household but Ms Mcilwham will also lose her job just months after starting it.
Other staff - from those who arranged the couple’s hectic programme to junior members of the press and social media teams – will all be without jobs.
A Palace aide said: "Given their decision to step back, an office at Buckingham Palace is no longer needed.
"While the details are still being finalised and efforts are being made to redeploy people within the royal household, unfortunately there will be some redundancies."
Harry will return to the UK a series of engagements next month before finally leaving the country for his new life with Meghan, and son Archie.
It’s not yet clear if Meghan and Archie will join him.
The couple initially said they wanted to divide their time between the UK and North America, but it’s looking increasingly likely they will spend most of the time in Canada and the US.
No announcements have been made about where the family will settle.
They have been living in Vancouver Island in British Colombia since November but they have made some recent business trips to the US.
Meghan and Harry went to Stanford University in California as part of their plans to set up a charity foundation in their name.
Harry also spoke at an event he attended with Meghan in Miami, Flordia for the huge investment bank JP Morgan.
It’s not been confirmed whether or not the couple were paid for the speech.
Meanwhile, in London, royal aides from the Queen’s household, Prince Charles’, Prince William’s and Harry’s have spent the last few weeks trying to finalise the Sussexes’ exit plan.
It’s involved going through the detail of what was announced in January following the Royal Family summit at Sandringham.
But as the Sussexes’ staff shaped that plan – it’s become a last task for them before leaving their jobs.
One royal source hinted that the whole process had been unnecessarily upsetting for the loyal team who worked for Harry and Meghan.
The new arrangements for the Sussexes are scheduled to begin in April.