It was announced today that Prince Harry’s private secretary, Ed Lane Fox, is stepping down. Ed has worked with Harry for five years. Last month Prince William’s private secretary, Miguel Head, also stepped down. Last year, Princess Kate’s private secretary left too. And there have also been several staffing changes in Prince Charles’s and the Queen’s households. All of the senior royals then are reshaping their staffing needs as Her Majesty approaches the end of her reign. 

Samantha Cohen, the Queen’s assistant private secretary, is expected to take over as interim private secretary for Prince Harry when Ed Lane Fox leaves in the summer and as they search for a permanent replacement. I’ve heard that Samantha gets on well with Meghan and, presumably, whoever comes in as the new private secretary will be suited to work not only with Prince Harry – as was the case when ELF was hired – but both Sussexes or Clarences or (my hope, even though no one else thinks this is possible) Windsors, Harry and Meghan. 

As we’ve seen, Meghan has been a pretty active representative of the family since the engagement was announced, which is already unusual since she and Harry aren’t officially married yet. Clearly they’re building a vision and a strategy around the Harry and Meghan partnership going forward and considering the team they need around them to manage it. 

Meghan is no longer confirmed for any public duty until the wedding. Her schedule is now clear until May 19th. So she’s going underground for three weeks, building anticipation for the big day. William and Harry, as we saw, stepped out together yesterday in a show of brotherly love after announcing that William will be Harry’s best man. When Will and Kate were married, it was Harry standing up for Will on his side and Pippa standing up for Kate on her side. Several children were involved in the wedding as flower girls and pageboys, but there were no other adult groomsmen or bridesmaids. If it’s one on Harry’s side then, like Will and Kate, it’ll likely be one person for Meghan on her side, right? I wonder what royal people think of gigantic wedding parties. You know, like when there are, like, 6 people each, for a total of 12. Do they consider it excessive?