Prince Harry’s chief of staff quits after just three months leaving Sussexes in limbo before Colombia tour

Josh Kettler’s departure comes days before Harry and Meghan begin ‘tour’ of Colombia

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Chief of Staff has become their latest senior employee to quit - just three months after starting the job.

The Duke of Sussex handed Josh Kettler the prestigious title earlier this year as it was believed he would be the ideal candidate to “guide” the couple through their “next phase”.

However, Mr Kettler has now parted ways with the couple, with it understood he was hired on a trial basis and the decision to part ways was mutual and both sides agreeing it was not the correct fit.

Mr Kettler, who was previously chief of staff at communication platform Cognixion, began his role the week before the couple’s visit to Nigeria in May and also accompanied Harry to London for the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games.

He leaves the couple days before they are set to embark on their second international working trip to Colombia.

Josh Kettler has parted ways with the couple just three months after beginning the job (Karwai Tang/WireImage)

The duke and duchess are due to begin an unofficial tour of the country on Thursday following the success of their appearance in Nigeria.

It is not the first time Harry and Meghan have had to navigate the loss of staff, with the couple having seen 18 senior figures leave since they married in 2018.

Nine or more have left since they moved to California in 2020, including key staff from Archewell Productions.

The manager of the company that makes TV programmes and films, Bennet Levine, quit in January after two years at the firm. He worked on the couple’s Netflix documentary before making his exit.

Another big loss came when Oscar-nominated producer Ben Browning left as the couple’s head of internal content in January 2023 - a month after Rebecca Sananes, who was hired to produce Meghan’s Spotify podcast Archetypes, quit in December 2022 as head of audio at Archewell.

Mr Kettler began his role the week before the couple’s visit to Nigeria in May (Getty Images for The Archewell F)

That same month, the president of the couple’s charitable foundation, Mandana Dayani, stepped down after a year and a half at Archewell.

A former member of staff told the Daily Mail that they had not heard “a single current or former employee on their staff say they would take the job again if given the chance”.

“These aren’t employees they had just found off the streets,” the source added. “Many of them are people who had previously excelled working for demanding bosses in high-performance companies and environments.”

Earlier this year, reports also surfaced that Meghan has struggled to find a CEO for her new cooking and lifestyle business American Riviera Orchard.

The brand was revealed earlier this year when the duchess set up an Instagram page and website for the brand. It has not yet begun trading but Meghan soft-launched products such as jam and dog biscuits via her celebrity friends on social media.

The Independent has approached the Sussexes for a comment.