The unfortunate timing of Harry and Meghan’s Colombia trip

As Harry and Meghan prepare to head off on yet another quasi-regal tour, this time to Colombia, it is surely nothing more than a coincidence that their experienced chief of staff Josh Kettler – a so-called ‘executive accelerator and strategist’ – has left ‘by mutual agreement’ after a three-month trial period in the job. The only detail released was that he was not felt to be the right fit.

The timing would be dismal by any standards, given that he was responsible for organising and executing the couple’s trip; the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will now be travelling without Kettler. However, his departure now means that he is the eighteenth member of the Sussexes’ staff to have quit, or been fired, since they moved to Montecito a few years ago. It has been suggested that there is an informal group, ‘the Sussex survivors’ club’, that those who have been through the traumatic and dispiriting experience of working for Harry and Meghan have formed.