The House of Harry
IN one of the biggest royal shakeups of recent years, Harry and Meghan are to split their household from William and Kate’s.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will move their staff and offices to be with the Queen at Buckingham Palace, cutting ties with Kensington Palace, where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge live and work.
Last night, royal aides quashed suggestions that this was further evidence of a rumoured rift between William and Harry.
They insisted the changes had always been on the cards because of William’s future role as Prince of Wales, and would have taken place last year had it not been for Harry and Meghan’s marriage.
Inevitably, however, the move will fuel speculation that the brothers’ once close relationship has become strained.
In a statement last night, Buckingham Palace revealed that the Queen had agreed the creation of a household for the Sussexes.
Harry and Meghan are due to move to their new home at Frogmore Cottage on the Queen’s Windsor estate next month, just ahead of the birth of their first child.
Their household will, unusually, be funded by both her and Prince Charles from their private fiefdoms, the Duchy of Lancaster and the Duchy of Cornwall.
The statement said: ‘This long-planned move will ensure permanent support arrangements for the Duke and Duchess’s work are in place as they start their family and move to their official residence at Frogmore Cottage.’
The Sussexes are appointing a new team of Press officers, funded by the taxpayer, to be based at Buckingham Palace.
They have hired as head of communications Sara Latham, who worked for President Obama and Hillary Clinton at the White House, and was an adviser for Mrs Clinton’s 2016 presidential bid.
Anglo-American by birth, which will no doubt go down well with LA-born Meghan, Miss Latham has been poached from the PR firm Freuds, where she was in charge of major global corporate accounts.
In 2005, she was part of Tony Blair’s general election team, and served as special adviser to the Tessa Jowell in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport when London secured the Olympic bid.
The changes will also affect the Cambridges’ Press office.
Jason Knauf, who led it, has now been appointed as a ‘senior adviser’ to William and Kate, a role created especially for him, while Christian Jones becomes their communications secretary.
It is likely that as a result of the separation of the households, the charity arm of Kensington Palace, The Royal Foundation – which masterminded initiatives such as the mental-health campaign Heads Together and Harry’s inspirational Invictus Games, could be dismantled.
Sources said the two couples acknowledged the changes would have ‘implications for how they manage their charitable and philanthropic activity’.
Last night, one senior aide told the Daily Mail that the arrangements had been long overdue because both brothers were on ‘such different trajectories’.
William will become Prince of Wales and King, while Harry will follow in the footsteps of his uncles, the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex, and aunt, Princess Anne.
The source said: ‘The Cambridges have made clear that Kensington Palace will remain their home and base, even when the Duke becomes Prince of Wales. Buckingham Palace was always going to be Harry’s. They are just on very different paths.’
Another added: ‘William has always supported his brother and has given him time to make the decisions he needs, but equally he always knew there would come a time that their paths had to diverge, and with a new wife and a baby on the way, now seems like that moment.
‘Harry is doing this with his support and blessing. This is just something that needed to happen. It’s about futureproofing the monarchy.’
‘William knew their paths had to diverge’