Scandal

It seems the British media is done talking about Prince Andrew’s depravity and all of the crimes he’s committed. They’ve successfully deflected everything to “should Andrew be kicked out of Royal Lodge” and “look, the Windsors are doing another dumb half-measure to punish Andrew.” Another key part of Operation Deflect From Andrew is the British press’s favorite standard: attacking the Duke and Duchess of Sussex no matter what. Throughout this week, Mail columnists have been trying to keep up the attacks, even as it became abundantly clear that the monarchy has done the most to protect a serial sexual predator for decades. “But Meghan went to Paris,” they cried. “But Meghan’s business is struggling, we swear!”

Well, the Mail’s Alison Boshoff has a new exclusive: Meghan lost another staffer! Back in June, the Sussexes did a major housecleaning on their comms team, letting go of some of their comms people and hiring Emily Robinson, who used to work for Netflix (and did publicity for The Crown). I said at the time that Meredith Maines – the comms guru who was hired in February – was probably behind all of the June streamlining. Well, now it looks like Emily Robinson has left the Sussexes’ employ!

The Duchess of Sussex has parted company with her tenth publicist in just five years after a big name she poached from Netflix quit after just three months. Emily Robinson joined Harry and Meghan’s team as director of communications in June, but she has already jumped ship.

Ms Robinson was always a controversial hire as she had worked on The Crown for years – a show which aired a number of damaging narratives about the Royal Family. The final series included scenes in which the ‘ghost’ of Princess Diana appeared to speak to The Queen and Prince Charles, which many found insensitive.

One friend of LA-based Robinson, who built up a reputation as a ‘tough cookie’ at Netflix, said: ‘It was her decision. She left a few weeks ago. She’s not a quitter, so things must have been pretty horrible for her to go.’

Ms Robinson’s LinkedIn profile does not currently include any reference to having worked with the couple, but other roles which she has held are listed.

Ms Robinson is at least the tenth publicist to leave the employ of Meghan and Harry since they left the UK for California five years ago (although two former publicists, James Holt and Miranda Barbot, have been promoted into non-PR roles). Remaining on their team are Liam Maguire, director of communications in Europe, and Meredith Maines, their chief communications officer. They met the King’s press secretary, Tobyn Andreae, this summer – which is thought to have paved the way for Prince Harry to briefly see his father last month.

The couple have suffered numerous PR disasters, most recently the duchess’s surprise trip to Paris Fashion Week.

[From The Daily Mail]

“…Most recently the duchess’s surprise trip to Paris Fashion Week…” Ah yes, the publicity disaster of “Meghan drawing global headlines for looking amazing at the Balenciaga show.” Obviously, that’s why Emily left! She was like, no, I cannot have my client getting so much attention at Paris Fashion Week! It’s far more likely that Robinson left for a better job, or maybe there’s another restructure happening within Archewell, especially with Meghan focusing so much on As Ever. I’m defending the Sussexes’ comms team FINALLY because this year, they’ve really turned things around. Some of us had begged them for years to be more responsive, and to not allow these evil f–king narratives to fester unchallenged. And this year, we saw those changes. I believe it’s because of Maines as well.

Photos courtesy of Netflix.