Revolving door at Harry and Meghan’s Archewell as Duke and Duchess hire new assistant

The marketing director at an exclusive hotel around the corner from Meghan and Harry’s mansion where Audrey Hepburn, Winston Churchill and JFK were guests is their new office chief, MailOnline can reveal today.

Harrison Colcord worked at the San Ysidro Ranch, where rooms are between $2,655 and $4,000-a-night and the Duke of Sussex did his incendiary TV interviews with Anderson Cooper and Tom Bradby in January to promote Spare.

Ms Colcord appears to have left San Ysidro Ranch and her role as Director of Sales and Marketing a month later, with no new job listed on her LinkedIn.

But today the British owner of a Montecito bike store revealed she is now working for Harry and Meghan after publishing a letter from the couple thanking him and his wife for a free bike they gave to Archie on his 4th birthday on May 6. 

Martin and Jennifer Blevins posted a royal household-style note from the Sussexes’ on their Instagram page, which was signed by Ms Colcord on behalf of the ‘Office of Prince Harry and Meghan’. 

The design graduate from Appalachian State University in North Carolina had it sent to the Mad Dogs & Englishmen Bike Shop by courier earlier this week – a month after the gift was received.

Harry and Meghan’s offices and businesses have been described as a ‘revolving door’. The Sussexes have reportedly lost 16 staff since 2018. However, they did not officially launch the Archewell organisation and its related businesses until late 2020. 

The Duke of Sussex, 38, filmed his bombshell interviews with Anderson Cooper and Tom Bradby in San Ysidro Ranch, close to his mansion. The resort in Montecito – which hosted Winston Churchill and where JFK and Jackie Onassis honeymooned – was also where Harry’s wife Meghan Markle’s Variety Magazine photoshoot and interview was filmed. 

In her role as Director of Sales and Marketing, Harrison Colcord would likely have helped facilitate those events and potentially spent time with them and other members of the Archewell team.

The most recent two key staffers to go were reportedly Fara Taylor, who leads the Archewell Productions marketing team, and internal content head Ben Browning.

Harrison Colcord’s role emerged when it was revealed Prince Archie was given a free bike with stabilisers for his birthday.

Martin and Jennifer Blevins delivered it to Meghan and Harry’s $14.7million mansion along with flowers, balloons and a card for the little boy, who turned four on May 6.

The gift was revealed by the couple, who run the Mad Dogs & Englishmen Bike Shop in Montecito, after they posted a thank you letter from the Sussexes’ on their Instagram page.

They did not reveal the bike Archie received, only that it was a Specialized bike, an exclusive brand that can cost up to £8,700 ($11,000). The only one on their website with stabilisers – known as training wheels in the US – retails for £240 ($300).

The married couple appear to be such fans of the royals that according to their Insta they have named one of their dogs Meghan Markle, riding their beloved pup around in a special sidecar attached to one of their luxury bikes. She also greets visitors to their store, used by a host of stars including fellow Brit Simon Cowell.

But the Blevins’ have been criticised by some who believe the bike should have gone to a less privileged child. Sussex supporters were upset that they shared the thank you letter, on Sussex headed paper but not signed by the couple, on social media. 

One critic wrote sarcastically: ‘Too important to write their own letters’. But one supporter said: ‘If you’re angry a company sent a bike to a little boy on his birthday as a sweet surprise, you’re the one who has the problem’.

Jennifer Blevins told PEOPLE that they made the ‘spontaneous’ decision to give Archie a special birthday gift. 

She said: ‘He [Martin] went and he got one of our little Specialized kids’ bikes — they’re really nice little bikes — and he’s like, “This one’s perfect, it’s got training wheels”.

‘And so he went and got some birthday balloons, and he got some flowers for Meghan and a birthday card, and he said, “Okay, I’m gonna bike over and take it to their house”.’

Security then came to check who he was. After checking who Martin was, and the packages, security allowed him to leave the gift.

‘He said, “I’m just a British business in town that wanted to give Archie a gift”.’, she added.

A month later the thank you letter arrived from the couple.

Ms Blevins said: ‘A courier came by our little shop on Coast Village Road and he dropped off that letter.

‘I was making a joke, I said, “It better be a thank you letter” and it really was. I wasn’t expecting that. I had no idea.

‘It was so thoughtful because, you know, they took the time to write something personal and not just a generic thank you.

‘Every celebrity in that town has bought bikes from us, and they all come through there,” she recalled. “None of them sent a thank you letter.

‘His little sister Lili can enjoy it too as she grows, it’ll be one that both of them like’.

The letter from Harrison Colcord, from the Office of Prince Harry and Meghan, was then posted to the bike shop’s Instagram.

It read: ‘On behalf of Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, please accept their sincere thanks for the thoughtful gift you sent to Prince Archie for his fourth birthday. The bike has brought much joy, and is most appreciated by the family. They asked that I convey their gratitude at the lovely surprise’.

Below, MailOnline takes a look at the former staffers to the Duke and Duchess who have since left:

Fara Taylor – January 2023

Fara Taylor led Archewell’s marketing team. She opted to leave the firm in January 2023.

She oversaw the team during the release of the couple’s Netflix docuseries and Harry’s memoir, Spare. 

Ms Taylor’s departure comes as the Sussexes were planning to ‘streamline the company’s marketing arm.’

Ashley Hansen, Archewell’s head of communication, will lead the marketing team moving forward.

Ben Browning – January 2023

Oscar-nominated producer Ben Browning has quit working at Archewell following the success of the couple’s Harry & Meghan docuseries.

Mr Browning, the company’s internal content head, played an ‘integral’ part in the production of the Netflix series.

Harry & Meghan was the platform’s most-streamed documentary series debut, amassing 81.55 million hours watched in the first week after release. 

Archewell had followed Harry & Meghan with its Live to Lead documentary, created in partnership with the Mandela Foundation.

Live to Lead did not receive the same global response as the couple’s docuseries. 

Rebecca Sananes – December 2022

Rebecca Sananes has quit as head of audio at Archewell after just 18 months in the role, according to the Daily Telegraph and US gossip website Page Six.

She was hired to produce Meghan’s Spotify podcast, Archetypes, in July 2021, but has been replaced by media executive Serena Regan. 

It has not yet been decided whether a second series of Archetypes will be commissioned.

Mandana Dayani – December 2022

Mandana Dayani stepped down as president of Archewell, the couple’s media empire and charitable foundation, at the weekend.

A spokeswoman for Meghan and Harry said the pair would ‘take full lead of their company’.

With her US media connections, the Iranian-born activist was considered one of the Duke and Duchess’s most important advisers. She has been at Archewell, where she oversaw day-to-day operations, for less than 18 months. 

In a statement, Ashley Hansen, Meghan and Harry’s global press secretary, last night said that Ms Dayani ‘has been an integral part of Archewell and we are grateful for her passion, commitment and leadership’. 

Toya Holness – May 2022

Toya Holness, who has a degree in strategic PR from the University of Southern California, joined the Sussexes in October 2020 and was promoted to oversee their PR on both sides of the Atlantic in March last year.

She has previously been described as ‘Meghan’s shadow’ – having often been seen wearing the same style of power suits and Hollywood sunglasses.

The former football player had been one of a small band who speak to Harry and Meghan daily, but is understood to have parted ways with the couple, The Sunday Times reports.

She was said to have ‘wanted out’ after finding herself ‘having to fulfil a great many functions for the couple’, insiders claimed.

Catherine St Laurent – March 2021

The executive director of Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Foundation Catherine St-Laurent stepped down after just one year to take on a ‘senior advisory’ role at the organisation.

Ms St-Laurent took on the position of chief of staff and executive director of the Sussexes’ non-profit enterprise in April 2020. 

The Canadian mother-of-two was said to be ‘the bright hope to run their organisation’.

It was revealed that Meghan and Harry’s UK PR chief James Holt would take on the director role instead.

And, in a sign of the couple’s growing ventures across the pond, it was also announced that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have hired veteran producer Ben Browning to head up their film and TV company.

Natalie Campbell – June 2020

Natalie Campbell, a diversity campaigner, was Harry and Meghan’s big hire to lead their cherished Sussex Royal charity foundation.

She worked with Meghan on cookbook Together, which shone a light on the Hubb Kitchen, a group who came together to prepare fresh meals following the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy. 

Poached from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s Royal Foundation in August 2019, she worked for the Sussexes for less than a year before leaving for a new job.

Sara Latham – March 2020

Sara Latham, former director of communications, was among a group of 15 employees to have lost her job from Megxit. 

She previously worked for Barack Obama and was hired when the rift between the Sussexes and Cambridges happened.  

In his bombshell book Courtiers, Valentine Low writes: ‘At the back of [colleagues’] minds was the feeling that anyone leaving the Sussex team would be best advised to think of a good excuse. Meghan did not like it if she thought it was about her.’ 

Clara Loughran – March 2020

The New Zealander, 33, first worked for the Cambridges where she met her now husband, PR executive Nick Loughran. 

She was handed a key role as the Sussexes project manager, overseeing their charitable projects and helping with their wedding plans. She lost her job when the couple left for a new life. 

Samantha Cohen – October 2019

Cohen, the Queen’s assistant private secretary, was planning to leave Buckingham Palace in 2018.

However, she agreed to stay on to help guide the Duchess of Sussex through her first months in the Royal Family.

An Australian who joined the Palace press office in 2001, tough-talking Cohen was respected in Royal circles. 

She left as the couple’s private secretary last year to work for environmental charity Cool Earth.

Amy Pickerill – March 2019

Ms Pickerill had been tipped to become Meghan’s private secretary after Cohen before she unexpectedly quit as a key aide in May 2019. 

The former Treasury press officer had played a key role in Harry and Meghan’s tour of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga in October 2018 – their first Royal tour as a married couple. 

Meghan described the loss of her assistant private secretary as ‘very sad’ and sources insisted the split was amicable. 

Jason Knauf & Christian Jones – March 2019

Senior communications secretaries Jason Knauf and Christian Jones left to work for the Cambridges.

Mr Knauf was found to have submitted a formal complaint in October 2018 to Prince William’s private secretary, Simon Case, about the bullying he said various members of the household had been subject to.

The Sussexes have always vehemently denied allegations of bullying as a ‘calculated smear campaign’. 

Female protection officer – January 2019

In January 2019, a female royal protection officer also quit her job as the top bodyguard for Meghan.

The officer, who has not been named for security reasons, had been head of Meghan and Harry’s security for less than a year when she left the role.

At the time, a Scotland Yard spokesman said: ‘It’s for personal reasons and absolutely nothing to do with the Duke or Duchess, who are hugely disappointed at losing her.’

Melissa Toubati – November 2018

Meghan’s PA, Melissa Toubati, left after just six months, said to have handed in her notice after the Duchess had left her ‘in tears’ with her demands. Meghan denies the claims.

Katrina McKeever – September 2018

Deputy communications secretary Katrina McKeever quietly departed the Kensington Palace press office in September 2018.

She had a key liaison role with Meghan’s family, including her father Thomas Markle. In Finding Freedom, Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand say McKeever ‘left on a good note with the Sussexes’.