Meghan Markle & Prince Harry’s 11th Publicist Quits After Kardashian Party Fallout: ‘At a Certain Point It’s Time to Go’

“At a certain point it’s time to go,” a source close to Meredith Maines said of her decision to leave her role as Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s chief communications officer — making her the couple’s 11th publicist to move on in five years’ time.

News of Maines’ departure from Archewell Philanthropies was announced Friday. Page Six reports that she submitted her resignation before Christmas but agreed to stay through the new year to help with the transition, and that Harry and Meghan’s charity is now down to just two employees.

“She’s unflappable, and does not complain … she really enjoyed her time there, but at a certain point it’s time to go,” the outlet’s source explained. As of publication, Maines is still listed on LinkedIn as Chief Communications Officer (CCO) – Office of Prince Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Maines joined the Sussex operation back in February as a high-level communications hire with a wide brief: overseeing both their personal and business public relations and helping steer a new phase of their post-palace work. In a February statement to Axios, she said she was “honored to partner with Prince Harry and Meghan” and “excited to help them tell their story as entrepreneurs, builders, and philanthropists” while overseeing communications across their ventures.

By mid-2025, Maines had also become a key player in Harry’s reported efforts to mend fences with the royal family. As previously reported, she met with King Charles III’s communications secretary, Tobyn Andreae, at London’s Royal Over-Seas League alongside the Sussexes’ U.K. PR representative, Liam Maguire. Maines arranged Harry’s BBC interview in May, where he said he “would love a reconciliation” with his father and Prince William, admitted he was tired of fighting, and voiced concern about King Charles’ health.

She was reshaping their press operation at the same time. In June, Maines said in an official statemennt that she had made “the strategic decision” to move from a small in-house setup to specialist agency support, expanding to an eight-person staff across five time zones to give international media “better access” and “faster response times” as Meghan’s As Ever brand and With Love, Meghan series rolled out.

Her exit now comes just weeks after another heavily scrutinized moment: the couple’s appearance at Kris Jenner’s 70th birthday party on Nov. 8 at Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s Beverly Hills mansion. After the event, Kim Kardashian and Jenner posted Instagram carousels that included photos with the Sussexes, then removed the images that showed Harry and Meghan.

According to Page Six, sources say representatives for the couple asked that the photos come down because they “don’t want to piss off the royal family while they are trying to reconcile.” Another insider told the outlet that the Kardashian-Jenner family was “getting annoyed with the Sussex camp” for overshadowing what was supposed to be a celebration of Jenner. People close to the royal family reportedly called the party appearance “so tacky,” and one source claimed that the Kardashian birthday photo drama was the “final straw” for Maines, who had been managing the backlash.

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