Now Sussexes’ cheerleader quits role at Queen’s Trust
JUST six weeks after Prince Harry and Meghan were stripped of their cherished roles as president and vicepresident of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust, I hear of another dramatic departure.
I can disclose that the group’s chief executive, Nicola Brentnall, has left her role amid claims that she was too much of a ‘cheerleader’ for the California-based Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Brentnall is also said to have caused anger by her involvement in Harry and Meghan’s infamous video chat last summer when they linked the Queen’s beloved Commonwealth to slavery.
‘It’s fair to say that some important people felt it was better that she moved on,’ a source tells me. ‘We are an organisation that’s meant to celebrate the Commonwealth, yet she was letting, or even encouraging, Harry and Meghan to make it sound like we’re some backward movement stuck in a racist, colonial past.’
In their video call with young leaders, the Sussexes said the Commonwealth must acknowledge past ‘wrongs’ in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, even if it is ‘uncomfortable’, as they discussed historical injustice, unconscious bias and racism. They claimed that otherwise it would be impossible for the ‘family of nations’ to progress.
This enraged courtiers, who pointed out that the Commonwealth was an organisation member states had joined voluntarily and had no ‘uncomfortable’ past. The Queen is head of the Commonwealth and sees it as one of the greatest successes of her reign.
A spokesman insists that Brentnall’s time as boss has not been cut short. ‘In 2016, Nicola Brentnall committed to serve for five years as chief executive of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust. With the team, she has taken the organisation from inception to being a recognised and respected youth organisation, ready to expand its grant-making and support programme to the next level.
‘Happily, she remains with us in a consulting role until June and will always be a member of Team QCT.’