Prince Harry, Meghan Markle’s ‘revolving door’ of staff suggests ‘something is wrong’

Prince Harry’s chief of staff has left his job after three months, leaving many to wonder what’s happening inside the Sussex circle.

People magazine recently reported that Josh Kettler started his role a week before Harry and his wife Meghan Markle made their official visit to Nigeria in May. The outlet reported that Kettler was hired on a trial basis, and the decision to part ways was mutual, with “both sides agreeing it wasn’t the right fit.”

“A revolving door of staff seems to be the norm for Harry and Meghan,” British broadcaster and photographer Helena Chard told Fox News Digital. “Eighteen members of their staff have departed their team.”

“Sometimes introducing new staff to a team can keep ideas alive, but this is an unusually high turnover of staff and highlights that something is wrong,” said Chard.

A spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex didn’t immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

People magazine noted that Kettler’s departure comes less than two weeks after Francia Márquez, Colombia’s vice president, announced that the couple will visit Colombia.

Kettler, who is based in Santa Barbara, California, was previously the chief of staff and head of strategic partnerships at Cognixion, a communication platform.

“The sad thing is all these employees have been chosen carefully,” Chard explained. “They have previously excelled working for demanding bosses in high-performing companies and environments. I can only believe that Harry and Meghan are tricky customers and make it near impossible for their staff to excel in their roles.”

“The Prince and Princess of Wales, and in fact, all the working royal family, seem to keep good relations, trust and communication with their staff,” Chard pointed out. “They do not have a high turnover of staff. They steer a tight ship, and are very focused, workwise. This filters into their employees’ support and work ethic.

“Harry and Meghan seem like rudderless ships. They lack direction, jump on board many different ideas, think they are an authority on all these ideas, and then move on to something new.”

“Josh Kettler’s departure after just three months stands in sharp contrast to most of the top palace-based royal staffers who stick around for years or even decades in one capacity or another,” Christopher Andersen, author of “The King,” told Fox News Digital.

“There is a whole infrastructure there, an established way of doing things,” said Andersen. “But working for Harry and Meghan… is a whole different ballgame. The personalities involved are very strong. It may take a while for Harry and Meghan to find someone who is just the right fit for what is a very demanding job.”

The U.S. Sun reported that out of 18 members of staff who have walked away from the Sussexes, nine of them have quit since the couple moved to California in 2020.

It appeared that key staff members were jumping ship before the couple made their royal exit. In his 2023 book “Courtiers,” author Valentine Low claimed that many of the couple’s former palace staff coined the term “Sussex Survivors Club” to describe themselves after they quit working for the couple.

In a 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan claimed she wasn’t supported by palace staff after she married the British prince in 2018. Low claimed that many who worked for the duchess wanted to help but soon felt “even her most heartfelt pleas for help were part of a deliberate strategy” to leave royal life.

A former staff member claimed to Low that Meghan wanted to drive the narrative that she was being “rejected” by the palace. Others claimed to Low that the mother of two wanted to leave the palace so she could return to the U.S. and earn money again.

There was a mutual dislike between two senior aides and Meghan and Harry, who the duchess saw as “bureaucratic,” Low claimed. A source claimed Harry, 39, “used to send them horrible emails. So rude.”

“The revolving door of Sussexes’ employees was made public in December 2018 after The Sunday Times accused Meghan Markle of being a challenging employer,” Kinsey Schofield, host of the “To Di For Daily” podcast, told Fox News Digital. “That is where we saw the birth of the ‘Duchess Difficult’ nickname.”

“It did not help Meghan’s cause when it was discovered that Meghan was accused of bullying two palace aides out of Kensington Palace,” said Schofield. “These allegations were featured in private emails from [former employee] Jason Knauf that eventually led their way to Prince William’s inbox… which caused an altercation between Prince William and Prince Harry, according to Harry’s book, ‘Spare.’”

“High turnover for the Sussexes is a clear sign in my mind of ineffective leadership, lack of support, and poor communication,” Schofield claimed. “According to Valentine Low’s initial bully investigation, Sussex employees struggle with work-life balance. Meghan was calling, texting, and emailing employees from sunup to sundown and wanted an immediate response. If Harry and Meghan expect excessive hours or place unrealistic demands on employees, it will likely lead to burnout and cause people to exit.”

Samantha Cohen, who was a Buckingham Palace staffer for nearly 20 years, confirmed she was questioned during an investigation into claims of bullying made against the Duchess of Sussex. Cohen, who spoke to the Australian newspaper the Herald Sun earlier this year, left in 2019.