RICHARD EDEN: Meghan and Harry have a staff retention problem, why did their chief of staff quit?

My first inkling that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex may have trouble holding on to staff came in 2018 with a tip that Meghan’s personal assistant, Melissa Toubati, had quit suddenly, six months after the US actress had married into the royal family.

“It’s a real shock,” a source said. “Why would she want to leave such a prestigious job so soon?”

Officials usually decline to discuss staffing matters, so I was taken aback when a senior Palace source paid tribute publicly: “Melissa is a hugely talented person. She played a pivotal role in the success of the royal wedding and will be missed by everyone in the royal household.”

The fact she left so soon raised questions about her reasons.

It later emerged Jason Knauf, the couple’s communications secretary, had written to Simon Case, Prince William’s private secretary, in 2018 to say: “I am very concerned that the duchess was able to bully two PAs out of the household in the past year. The treatment of X was totally unacceptable.

“The duchess seems intent on having someone in her sights. She is bullying Y and seeking to undermine her confidence. We have had report after report from people who have witnessed unacceptable behaviour towards Y.”

Melissa’s departure proved to be the first of many from Harry and Meghan’s staff in years to follow.

The total number of employees the Sussexes have lost since 2018 is thought to be at least 18.

Nine or more have left since they moved to Montecito, California, in 2020.

The Sussexes’ staff retention problem was thrown into sharp focus after I revealed on Monday that Harry’s grandly titled chief of staff, Josh Kettler, had quit suddenly after barely three months.

When Kettler was appointed, he was described as the perfect man to “guide” King Charles’s younger son “through his next phase”.

While a spokesman for the Sussex’s declined to comment, an anonymous source later briefed People magazine — a title often used to put across their point of view — that Kettler had been “hired on a trial basis”.

The source claimed “the decision to part ways was mutual, with both sides agreeing it wasn’t the right fit”.

I recall when Harry and Meghan declared they wouldn’t indulge in anonymous briefings, which, they suggested, were the sort of sinister palace methods that would have no place in their modern household.

How times change.

The anonymous briefing given to People seems disingenuous.

Kettler’s hiring was on no more of a “trial basis” than any other appointment. It is absurd that they would fill a key position in this way.

The significance of Kettler’s role was clear to journalists covering Harry and Meghan’s “quasi royal tour” of Nigeria in May, when he was forever at the duke’s side.

Their use of the word “mutual” is fascinating too.

They used the same word to describe the end of their relationship with the music streaming giant Spotify.

A source tells me: “Josh soon realised that the job wasn’t for him. There were aspects of it he wasn’t comfortable with. He thought it was better to leave now than to continue in a job he did not enjoy.”

The source is too diplomatic to say, but did the chief of staff find that there was only one chief in Montecito — and it wasn’t him?

The timing of Kettler’s departure could not be more awkward, as he was so involved in organising the couple’s “quasi-royal tour” of Colombia, which began on Thursday.

He now joins the growing ranks of the “Sussex survivors squad”, the name former staff have given themselves.

The most wounded members were those who accused Meghan of bullying behaviour while she was still a working member of the royal family.

Palace aides admitted in 2022 that a report into alleged bullying by the duchess had effectively been buried, the findings would never be made public.

Even those involved were not told the outcome.

Officials would confirm only that the exercise had concluded and “recommendations on our policy and procedures” had been made.

Aides had announced in 2021 they were holding an inquiry into claims Meghan’s “belittling” behaviour while a working royal drove two female personal assistants out of the household and “undermined the confidence” of a third.

Staff were said to have been left in tears and feeling “traumatised” — some likening their condition to having post-traumatic stress.

The royal household hired a third-party law firm to probe the claims, which some said could raise tensions between Harry and Meghan and “the institution”.

The allegations have always been strongly denied by the duchess, whose lawyers described them as a “calculated smear campaign”.

A spokesman added: “The duchess is saddened by this latest attack on her character, particularly as someone who has been the target of bullying herself and is deeply committed to supporting those who have experienced pain and trauma.”

Surely, if Harry and Meghan want to have no further staff recruitment problems, they should urge the Palace to publish the report?