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We often don’t realise the extent to which royals and celebrities are run by their private behind-the-scenes staff.
Not only do these public relations professionals draft statements and plan coverage on their employer’s behalf, they are also usually their closest advisors.
So when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made the decision to hire a former Netflix PR executive, tongues started to wag.
Because not only did this show just how close the Sussexes have grown to the American streaming giant – their new employee, who was announced last week, has worked on something very close to the Royal Family before.
In fact, their new director of communications, Emily Robinson, was responsible for promoting the highly controversial drama The Crown from seasons three to six.
She oversaw global publicity for storylines such as Harry in Nazi fancy dress, Diana’s Panorama interview and a ghost Diana talking to the Queen.
Robinson was also on the team which fought against calls for a disclaimer when, in series five, the show cruelly depicted Charles plotting against his mother and savouring the possibility of her abdicating.
It’s widely believed The Crown was a source of irritation, mortification and offence to the Royal Family – and it was Robinson’s job to promote it as a prestige drama depicting essential truths about the monarchy.
Emily Robinson was announced last week as the Sussexes’ new director of communications. She has been described as a ‘divisive’ PR chief who rules with an ‘iron fist’
Her appointment comes after the couple have revamped the structure of their staff to improve their public perception
Sources told the Daily Mail’s chief showbiz writer Alison Boshoff that she ruled publicity for The Crown ‘with an iron fist’ and was a ‘divisive’ figure at Netflix as a result.
She left her job in April 2024, a few months after the final, most controversial, series aired.
It had featured a sympathetic portrayal of Mohamed Al Fayed, father of Princess Diana’s boyfriend Dodi, hinting he might have been the victim of a ‘racist’ Establishment.
Allegations that the Harrods boss was a sexual predator were circulating widely before the show aired, and have since apparently been confirmed in dozens of accounts from women.
One of King Charles’ aides has previously been quoted as calling the series ‘trolling on a Hollywood budget’.
A source told Boshoff: ‘In the circumstances, it’s almost beyond belief that Harry and Meghan would hire someone straight from The Crown.’
The combination of Netflix and Harry and Meghan has already caused the Royal Family considerable pain – notably with the Sussexes’ incendiary tell-all docuseries.
In that programme, Meghan claimed she’d been prevented from getting help when she was suicidal. Prince Harry, meanwhile, accused the Royal Family of ‘unconscious racial bias’, and of briefing against him and his wife.
The Crown’s series six featured a sympathetic portrayal of Mohamed Al Fayed, father of Princess Diana’s boyfriend Dodi, hinting he might have been the victim of a ‘racist’ Establishment
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have hired Emily Robinson who worked on the controversial TV show The Crown
The Crown cruelly depicted Charles (played by Dominic West) as plotting against his mother and savouring the possibility of her abdicating
It’s understood that the Sussexes are fully aware of Ms Robinson’s link to The Crown, but regard it as simply one part of her long career.
However, Prince Harry has previously said he did not mind The Crown’s fictionalising of some of the Royal Family’s most intimate moments.
In 2021, he told James Corden in an interview: ‘They don’t pretend to be news. It’s fiction. But it’s loosely based on the truth.
‘I’m way more comfortable with The Crown than I am seeing the stories written about my family, or my wife, or myself.’
According to acclaimed Daily Mail royal correspondent Robert Hardman in his latest book, King Charles III: The Inside Story, there was particular irritation after the interview.
And not long after reports emerged that the Sussexes had struck their own deal with Netflix, with one former staff telling Hardman: ‘Would Harry have spoken if he didn’t have a contact with the broadcaster? It stinks.’
Years later, on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2023, Prince Harry confirmed: ‘Yes, I have actually watched The Crown.’
And when he was asked if he did any ‘fact-checking’ while watching, he said: ‘Yes, I do, actually. Which, by the way, is another reason why it’s so important that history has it right.’
Royal writer Robert Hardman wrote about The Crown in his book Charles III: New King, New Court. The Inside Story
The Crown did not shy away from even the most personal scenes. Pictured: The moment it depicted Prince Charles telling Harry the heartbreaking news of Diana’s death
The show also controversially featured Diana’s ‘ghost’ speaking to the Queen (played by Imelda Staunton)
The appointment comes after the release of Meghan’s new podcast Confessions Of A Female Founder
Although the makers of The Crown and its many fans like to say ‘it’s only a drama’, the Palace fear that the hit show is gradually becoming the settled narrative of the modern royal story.
With reported production budgets of £10million per episode, The Crown lends extra credence to plotlines that are, in some cases, a wilful distortion of the truth, if not pure fantasy.
Many of the wilder theories it ‘dramatised’ included the cruel plotline in an early episode that blamed Prince Philip for the death of his sister and her family in a plane crash.
In truth, the death of Princess Cecilie and her young family in 1937 was an accident that had nothing to do with sixteen-year-old Prince Philip.
And in a subsequent series included the Queen purportedly conspiring with her staff to undermine Mrs Thatcher’s government when in 1986 The Sunday Times reported she found her prime minister ‘uncaring’.
Yet again, Netflix didn’t let the truth get in the way of a good TV show, as the reality was that a royal aide had voiced his own opinions, then denied it and later resigned.
The show’s constant fabrications caused an outcry, with Sir John Major, who has always been closer to the royals than other former prime ministers, issuing a statement dismissing it as a ‘barrel-load of malicious nonsense’.
With reported production budgets of £10million per episode, The Crown lends extra credence to plotlines that are, in some cases, a wilful distortion of the truth, if not pure fantasy
Dame Judi Dench publicly called for The Crown to carry a disclaimer due to its inaccuracies
Ex-BBC grandee Andrew Marr slammed the show passing off fake plots as historical fact by saying, ‘if I was one of the Royal Family, I would be utterly, utterly horrified’.
And other eminent figures, such as Dame Judi Dench, publicly called for the series to carry a disclaimer.
The producers eventually added a disclaimer to the trailer, conceding that it was ‘fictional dramatization’, although the series itself went ahead without one.
Throughout the show’s controversial final seasons, it was Robinson’s job to defend the fabricated Royal-critical storylines in the media – despite the upset it personally caused members of Harry’s family.
A source told Boshoff this week that Robinson ‘was always very charming and supportive to Peter Morgan [the writer] and all the actors in The Crown. She is one of the breed of publicists who think that the talent can do no wrong’.
Perhaps then Robinson will be in good company in her new role as Harry’s PR chief.
The Prince’s tell-all memoir Spare was itself seen by many as its own version of make-believe royal history, as it was quickly revealed there were dozens of inaccuracies in its account.
For instance, Harry tells readers what his father ‘allegedly said’ to Princess Diana on the day of his birth in 1984: ‘Wonderful! Now you’ve given me an heir and a spare — my work is done.’
Robinson was reportedly always very charming and supportive to Peter Morgan (pictured), the writer of The Crown
Prince Harry’s tell-all memoir Spare was itself seen by many as its own version of make-believe royal history, as it was quickly revealed there were dozens of inaccuracies in its account
A joke, he presumes, before adding: ‘On the other hand, minutes after delivering this bit of high comedy, Pa was said to have gone off to meet his girlfriend.’
A pity he didn’t rely on his mother’s version of events.
According to Diana: Her True Story, the book she secretly collaborated on with Andrew Morton, what Prince Charles actually said was: ‘Oh, it’s a boy and he’s even got rusty hair.’ (A common Spencer family colouring.)
Morton writes: ‘With these dismissive remarks he left to play polo.’
There was no mention of meeting a ‘girlfriend’.
Perhaps that was because it was another two years before Charles reignited his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles. Indeed, Diana herself recalled the period around Harry’s birth was the happiest time of her entire marriage.
The late Queen’s famous phrase ‘recollections may vary’, which was given in response to the Sussex’s racism claims in their infamous Oprah interview, has never been more apparent.
Eyebrows have been raised that Ms Robinson could once more get up to her old tricks on The Crown and begin peddling false stories about the Royal Family, told to her by none other than its most disillusioned member.
To complicate matters further, Ms Robinson’s appointment also raises concerns about how close the Sussexes are growing to Netflix.
The late Queen’s famous phrasing ‘recollections may vary’, was given in response to the Sussex’s racism claims in their infamous Oprah interview
After all, it is their main partner for Meghan’s growing business As Ever.
Could Ms Robinson’s role in the Sussex operation indicate there are more projects with Netflix in the pipeline?
There have been rumours that Harry will also be launching his own as-yet-undisclosed commercial venture in the next few months.
And there has been yet more shuffling of the Sussexes’ staff – with four more departures in recent weeks.
A source told The Sun: ‘Meghan and Harry always blame everyone else and never themselves.
‘No one ever seems to be good enough for them and yet they fail to understand why things don’t change.’
It comes as the couple hired Meredith Kendall Maines as their chief communications officer at the start of the year.
They have also partnered with Method Communications, which has been described as ‘an integrated relations and marketing agency that combines earned, owned, paid and shared media to help brands capture the spotlight and achieve meaningful business outcomes’.
It is thought that it was Method that was behind the controversial pregnant twerking video – which Meghan has said was her being ‘authentic’.
Although the clip was widely panned by the press, it pulled in 49million views.
Long-term aide James Holt, who featured in the couple’s Heart of Invictus Netflix docuseries, is not part of the new household but will remain in charge of their charity Archewell.
The couple hired Meredith Kendall Maines, as their chief communications officer at the start of the year
Long-term aide James Holt, who featured in the couple’s Netflix docuseries, is not part of the new household but will remain in charge of their charity Archewell
It seems the Sussexes hope is that Ms Robinson will be the person to turn around their flagging brand popularity.
They have already faced recent embarrassments such as Vanity Fair’s take-down in January, headlined ‘American Hustle’, which reignited bullying allegations.
And in February experts described the rebranding of her American Riviera Orchard brand to As Ever as chaotic.
Her six-part Netflix cookery show was also savaged by reviewers in both the UK and US, while her podcast Confessions of a Female Founder quickly tumbled down the ratings.
Ms Robinson is an experienced communications professional, having studied at Washington State University, and working at NBC Universal, the Discovery Channel and the History Channel before Netflix.
But there has been a troubled history with the role of the Sussex’s communications chief, most famously when a previous holder of the title, Jason Knauf, made a bombshell complaint of bullying against Meghan.
When working for Harry and Meghan in October 2018, he emailed his concerns about Meghan to William’s then private secretary, in an apparent attempt to force Buckingham Palace to protect staff.
Meghan’s legal team have in the past strenuously denied any wrongdoing, but the allegations have remained swirling over her head.
Only the future will tell if new hire Ms Robinson will succeed where others have failed, or if her stint in the role will also all end in tears.
