For us that is. For Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the last few days have seen them battered by the sort of bad news that requires a hearty stiffener, no matter the time of day.

There is only so much even the best gong meditation can do.

In the space of only 72 hours, both their closest aide, who followed them to the US after Megxit, and their communications head have announced they are partying ways with the Sussexes, a one-two PR punch that takes their duke and duchess; turnover rate from alarming to nearly UK Prime Minister-like levels.

(Downing Street logged four occupants in 22 months.)

This brings to nine the number of staff who have now left the Sussexes’ employ in the last six months alone, which works out at them losing someone every eight days on average. (Imagine the farewell cake budget.)

The biggest departure yet happened only hours ago when, late Monday local time, James Holt, the Sussexes’ longest serving staffer, announced his departure from his $360,000-a-year job running their charity.

Holt was no ordinary employee, having worked with Harry since 2017 in London, then moving with them to the US and handling their PR during that seismic transition, and then moving to head up Archewell.

So close is he that Holt featured in their Netflix series Harry & Meghan.

Both sides have put out sweetie pie statements saying how close they will all be staying, suggesting a flurry of heart emojis will still be flowing freely. In a statement, Holt declared his ‘gratitude’ to the couple, described the duchess as a “kindred spirit”, and talked about his “with immense pride and optimism for what lies ahead” for the Sussexes.

Meanwhile they did some rhapsodising of their own, calling him “ a stellar support” and saying “his enthusiasm and talent in overseeing our philanthropic endeavours have been extraordinary.”

Holt, a spokesperson has said, will remain “a senior philanthropic advisor for the couple and Archewell Philanthropies, supporting their humanitarian trips overseas in 2026.”

However, it was something less of straight up love-in when, on only Friday, the news broke that Meredith Maines, the Sussexes’ chief communications officer, was leaving, making her their 11th publicist to have bitten the dust since 2020.

The official line was exactly what you might expect, with Maines saying in a statement, “I have the utmost gratitude and respect for the couple and the team, and the good they are doing in the world.”

Interestingly, she also said “I will be pursuing a new opportunity in 2026”, which does not exactly suggest she is leaving for any particular new role.

Others have offered a less shiny, happy reading.

In the Daily Mail, Alison Boshoff has reported that despite the news only coming out on December 26, Maines had actually resigned in November, just days after the fiasco surrounding the pictures of the mysteriously disappearing photos of the Sussexes, including a decidedly unfocused-looking Harry, at Kris Jenner’s 70th birthday party.

That means, no abacus required here, that Maines, whose LinkedIn profile says she only started with the couple in March, only lasted eight months in the job.

Also this year, in October, the Sussexes’ director of communications Emily Robinson left her job with the couple after four months.

Robinson, who had previously headed up PR for The Crown for Netflix, was a “tough cookie”, a friend told the Mail, saying,“She’s not a quitter, so things must have been pretty horrible for her to go.’

Only a few months before that, in June, Harry and Meghan said sayonara to six other staffers. The Telegraph reported at the time “that the writing was on the wall” for that lot after Vanity Fair had published a deeply, deeply embarrassing piece about the duo.

The pattern here hardly needs expert commentary and a ball of red string to decipher.

At the rate the Sussexes staff end up piling out the exits they should start hiring them in bulk.

A source previously told Boshoff: “When anything negative comes out, someone has to pay. It is a miserable and impossible job. Meghan will get disappointed by one thing and then ice someone out. She will never let you live it down or forget how you let her down and neither will Harry.”

Writing on Tuesday in the Telegraph, Camilla Tominey says one former UK Sussex employee had told her: “Meghan has a habit of using a whisper shout, so when Harry is in the room, he just hears her talking normally and doesn’t understand why people describe her as aggressive.

“His default response is always ‘Meghan is misunderstood’.”

It is easy to forget but it was this year (yes, truly) that Vanity Fair published that 8,000 word feature story about Harry and Meghan that appeared to pain a devastating picture of them as employers.

According to the piece, staff who worked on Meghan’s Archetypes podcast needed “long-term therapy” or took extended breaks from work or quit.

A source described things as “really, really, really awful. Very painful. Because she’s constantly playing checkers—I’m not even going to say chess—but she’s just very aware of where everybody is on her board. And when you are not in, you are to be thrown to the wolves at any given moment.”

Only a few months before that, in late 2024, The Hollywood Reporter ran a story about the “ever-expanding ‘Sussex Survivors Club,’ with a source close to the couple saying, “Everyone’s terrified of Meghan. She belittles people, she doesn’t take advice… she’s just terrible.”

Another source said, “She’s absolutely relentless. She marches around like a dictator in high heels, fuming and barking orders. I’ve watched her reduce grown men to tears.”

Around the same time, former Sussex employees told Tom Sykes of The Daily Beast and the Royalist that Meghan was a “demon” who had “psycho moments” as a boss.

However others have spoken up for the Sussexes. At this same time, current and former staffers issued statements of support to Us Weekly, calling them the “Best bosses I have ever had” and that working for them had been “truly an honour.” Ben Browning, their former head of content, described his experience working with them as “positive and supportive”.

How, you have to wonder, will the Sussexes go hiring in the future?

Even in ever-chipper, bright-side-only California there can only be so many optimists eager to join the duke and duchess’ enterprise.

There’s an interesting coda to all this that has been happening back in London.

Remember how the Meghan as a bad boss narrative started?

It was way back in 2018 when the Sussexes and Prince and Princess of Wales’ (then the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge) shared UK communications head Jason Knauf who first aired the allegations that Meghan had bullied staff.

The duchess has always denied the claims.

Knauf famously wrote to Prince WIlliam’s then private secretary Simon Case to allege that Meghan had bullied two PAs out of the household and that ”the duchess seems intent on always having someone in her sights.”

The news of the Knauf email was revealed in March 2021, only days before their Oprah interview.

And today?

Earlier this year Knauf was interviewed by 60 Minutes and said of the bullying allegations, he had “no regrets” and “wouldn’t change anything”.

In April, William appointed him CEO of his flagship Earthshot Prize.

Meanwhile Case went on to become cabinet secretary before, in June this year, he was granted a peerage making him Sir Simon.

Daniela Elser is a writer, editor and commentator with more than 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles.