Harry’s chief of staff quits after three months as ‘not the right fit’

The Duke of Sussex’s chief of staff has left his role after just three months after mutually agreeing he was not the right fit.

Josh Kettler took up the senior post working with Harry in May ahead of the Sussexes’ tour to Nigeria.

His departure comes as Harry and Meghan prepare for their working trip to Colombia this week.

It is understood Mr Kettler was hired on a trial basis and the decision to part ways was mutual, with both sides agreeing it was not the correct fit.

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Harry and Meghan have gained a reputation for being unable to retain staff as they forged ahead with their charitable and production ventures in the US.

Mr Kettler, who was previously chief of staff at communication platform Cognixion, was said to have been brought in to guide Harry through the next phase.

He travelled to London with the duke in May to attend the 10th anniversary celebrations of the Invictus Games at St Paul’s Cathedral.

Harry and Meghan are set to tour the South American nation of Colombia at the invitation of the country’s vice president Francia Marquez.

Ms Marquez, a lawyer and human rights and environmental activist, said the pair would join her in visiting the capital Bogota, as well as the Caribbean and Pacific regions of Cartagena and Cali.

Details of the couple’s itinerary have not yet been released, but the vice president said they would engage in several activities related to safeguarding young people online and in physical spaces.

Meghan and Harry have long been vocal about highlighting the threat posed to children by the internet.

They launched a new initiative The Parent Network earlier this month to provide parents with a safe and free-to-access support network to help those whose children have been harmed by social media.

In an interview with CBS Sunday morning, Harry said the impact of online experiences on young people’s wellbeing was at the stage where “almost every parent needs to be a first responder, and even the best first responders in the world wouldn’t be able to tell the signs of possible suicide”.

The so-called “DIY royal tour” is the Sussexes’s second this year, after their three-day visit to Nigeria at the invitation of the West African nation’s chief of defence staff.

Harry and Meghan stepped down from the working monarchy in 2020 and no longer travel at the request of the UK Government on official overseas royal visits.

The Foreign Office warns against all but essential travel to certain parts of Colombia, with kidnapping rates remaining high.

It describes the country as “seriously afflicted by conflict” with a resurgence in violence in parts of Colombia despite the peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) movement to end the civil war.

Harry maintained last month it was “still dangerous” for Meghan to return to the UK.

In the ITV documentary Tabloids On Trial, the duke said: “All it takes is one lone actor, one person who reads this stuff to act on what they have read and whether it’s a knife or acid, whatever it is, and these are things that are of genuine concern for me.

“It’s one of the reasons why I won’t bring my wife back to this country.”

Harry lost a High Court challenge against the Home Office in February over a decision to change the level of his personal security when he visits the UK, but he has been given the green light to appeal.

During the case, the court was told Harry believes his children cannot “feel at home” in the UK if it is “not possible to keep them safe” there and that he faces a greater risk than his late mother, with “additional layers of racism and extremism”.