All-change for Harry and Meghan as they bring in former sweets PR man as UK contact and ex United Talent Agency ace to their comms team in new shake-up

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are adding two new faces to their communications team in the latest shake-up at their Archewell Foundation.

The royal couple have hired new communications executives in both Britain and the US after their former Director of Global Communications was promoted.

Charlie Gipson, who previously led PR campaigns for sweets company HARIBO, as well as Instagram and Samsung, will be acting as the couple’s press contact in Europe in his new role of Director of Communications, People Magazine reported.

Former United Talent Agency ace Kyle Boulia will be handling communications for the Sussexes at home in Los Angeles as he serves as Harry, 39, and Meghan’s Deputy Press Secretary and Director of Communications for US media.

The Sussexes launched their Archewell charity in 2020 shortly after stepping down from their roles as senior working royals. The pair have since expanded their endeavours to include a variety of media projects, including a production deal with Netflix and Meghan’s podcast with Lemonada Media.

The Duchess, 42, also recently launched a new lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, and sent 50 jars of a limited edition strawberry jam to her celebrity friends.

The Sussexes expanded their communications team after promoting Miranda Barbot from Director of Global Communications to Vice President of Programs and Media Operations, it emerged today.

Gipson and Boulia have been hired in her place as communications executives and will report to Ashley Hansen, the couple’s head of communications.

Gipson, who will be based in the UK, joins the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after working in brand management and public relations for two decades.

He led PR campaigns for a variety of clients including beloved candy maker HARIBO. 

Last year, he served as the account director on the company’s ‘Monster Approved’ campaign which saw HARIBO survey children across the UK to determine which sweet treats they’d like to collect while trick-or-treating, Creative Salon reported.

HARIBO then put a ‘Halloween Monster Approved’ logo on the packaging of sweets that had the highest ratings among youngsters, signalling to adults that they should purchase that particular treat.

Boulia joins the couple’s California-based staff after spending nearly six years at United Talent Agency (UTA), a leading global talent, sports, entertainment and advisory company.

He worked in media relations and publicity to collect ‘impactful press’ coverage for UTA and its vast client network, according to Variety.

Additionally, he managed all executive and client communications for the firm’s nearly 20 departments, including talent, literary, music, podcasts, creators, the Foundation, DEI, fine arts and more.

Boulia is also reportedly worked ‘extensively’ on shaping UTA’s corporate culture, emphasizing the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion.

The LGBTQ community appeared to be important to Boulia as he helped established and co-chaired UTA Proud, an internal group that supports queer artists. 

He oversaw all of UTA’s global initiatives and under his guidance, according to Variety, the firm became the first major Hollywood talent agency to receive a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index.

Boulia launched his PR career in Las Vegas in 2015 after having graduated from the University of Florida. He broke into the Hollywood market in 2018 after securing a role as an assistant to veteran UTA communications executive Lisa Stein.

The couple’s communications team shake-up follows the recent launch of Meghan’s American Riviera Orchards.

The Duchess has gifted jars of her limited edition American Riviera Orchard jam to her inner circle, with Harry’s polo player pal Nacho Figueras, actress Tracee Ellis Ross and activist Kelly McKee Zajfen among the select few to get a jar.

The latest influencer to pose with the sweet jam is Meghan’s Suits co-star Abigail Spencer, 42, who posted a photo to Instagram from a luscious garden with the strawberry preserve in her hand. Some fans have speculated Meghan even took the snap herself.

‘This jam is my jam,’ she told her followers. ‘A delicious taste of what’s to come indeed… love you so M.’

The post included two photos of Abigail lying on the grass with a beagle, which followers have quickly realised is Mamma Mia, a dog Harry and Meghan rescued in 2022.

Abigail, who is best known for her roles in Grey’s Anatomy, is the sixth person to share a photo with the Duchess’s jam.

The post comes after Meghan and Abigail were seen beaming together in a series of Instagram pictures to support friend Kelly McKee Zajfen’s new Mother’s Day campaign for her charity ‘Alliance of Moms.’

Kelly, 44, also received one of the coveted jams and gushed over it on social media, saying last week how she was ‘so proud’ of the Duchess.

The Duchess of Sussex sent friends the limited-edition jar ahead of the formal launch of her brand later this spring with a range of items.

The majority of the 50 recipients have yet to publicly acknowledge the merch drop.

Limited information has been released about American Riviera Orchard but a trademark application filed on February 2 this year showed the company wishes to offer downloadable and printed recipe books, table wear, textiles, and jams and marmalades, according to the United States Patent and Trademark Office website.

The account had 100,000 followers just three hours after its first post – a figure which is now up to 592,000.

Meghan has not run an Instagram account since the Sussexes stepped back from royal life four years ago. Previously, the couple ran a joint account @sussexroyal but announced they would stop posting in March 2020.

Meghan in February also announced that she had signed a deal with Lemonada Media, a female-founded company that wants to ‘make life suck less’.

The Duchess, who produced only one series of her podcast Archetypes for Spotify before parting ways with the company, had signed with the media firm to develop and host a new series.

However, a source told The Daily Mail’s Richard Eden that there is not expected to be any work broadcast this year. 

‘The relaunch of Meghan’s Archetypes podcast got pushed back to 2025,’ the California-based insider said.

It is understood that Lemonada does not want the podcast’s launch to be overshadowed by Meghan’s upcoming television series, which she began filming at a rented house in Montecito last week. 

Netflix said the show would ‘celebrate the joys of cooking and gardening, entertaining and friendship’.

Lemonada is said to be concerned that there would also be ‘scheduling conflicts’ between the launch of its podcasts and that of American Riviera Orchard.

Sources have also claimed that Meghan has a list of ‘very high-profile guests’ scheduled to participate in her new podcasts.

Guests on her series of 12 podcasts for Spotify included Wimbledon champion Serena Williams, pop star Mariah Carey, and Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell.

Archetypes had around one million listens per episode and debuted as Spotify’s No. 1 podcast in 47 countries around the world when it launched in August 2022.