Since I disclosed last month that Prince Harry‘s grandly titled chief of staff, Josh Kettler, had quit suddenly after barely three months, there has been much intrigue over why the Duke and Duchess of Sussex apparently struggle to retain employees.

This week, the Hollywood Reporter published an incendiary report claiming: ‘Everyone’s terrified of Meghan.’ It quoted a source close to the California-based couple describing King Charles‘s daughter-in-law as ‘Duchess Difficult’.

The source said: ‘She belittles people, she doesn’t take advice. She marches around like a dictator in high heels, fuming and barking orders. I’ve watched her reduce grown men to tears.’

Of the couple, the source added: ‘They’re both poor decision-makers, they change their minds frequently. Harry is a very, very charming person — no airs at all — but he’s very much an enabler. And she’s just terrible.’

The former actress’s treatment of two royal aides prompted Buckingham Palace to investigate her for ‘bullying behaviour’ in 2018, but the results of the inquiry were never made public. Meghan strenuously denied the allegations and denounced them as part of a ‘calculated smear campaign’. Neither she nor Harry have commented on the fresh claims from the US.

However, a friend of theirs tells me they deny the allegations made by the Hollywood Reporter, saying: ‘The reporting is ill-informed and very one-sided.’

With Harry due to return to Britain next week for a charity event, and the Royal Family’s willingness to mend fences demonstrated by their birthday wishes to the duke posted on social media on Sunday, there has never been a more important time for him to appoint a new right-hand man, or woman.

So here are the ten things I would do if I were appointed as Harry’s new chief of staff:

1) Establish who’s boss. Am I the chief of staff or will I be undermined constantly by ‘Duchess Difficult’?

2) Get to the bottom of what Harry wants to achieve in life. Does he want to continue exploiting his royal connections for profit or concentrate on public service?

3) Urge Harry to write to his father and Queen Camilla, apologising for the hurt he caused them with his memoir, Spare, and his numerous interviews. Make clear that he does not plan to do anything similar again.

4) Convince Harry to write to his brother and sister-in-law, the Prince and Princess of Wales, begging forgiveness for the tawdry claims he’s made about them. And offer to state this in public as well, if they so wish.

5) Encourage Harry to meet his father-in-law, Thomas Markle. Meghan’s father, who’s 80 and in poor health, has still not met the duke, or his grandchildren Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

6) Press the duke to abandon his legal battle against the Home Office over his taxpayer-funded security. Harry’s three-year legal fight with His Majesty’s Government is an acute embarrassment for the King and source of resentment for hard-pressed British taxpayers.

7) Write a code of conduct for staff and ‘principals’ in the Sussex household, making clear that bullying will not be tolerated. And encourage Buckingham Palace to clear the air by publishing the results of its investigation into Meghan’s behaviour towards employees.

8) Encourage Harry to become involved with an anti-drugs charity. It would help make clear that the duke’s use of illegal substances is confined to the past.

9) Persuade Harry to take a leaf out of his brother’s book and embrace baldness. Harry’s attempts at comb-overs look increasingly desperate. Go for the Jason Statham, Hollywood hardman look.

10) Finally, urge Harry to smile more, particularly when with Meghan. His sullen look makes him appear grumpy and resentful.

If Harry took my advice, I’m convinced that he would soon be embraced once more by the public who used to adore him.

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