Apparently, a former tie with Kate Middleton comes at a cost as her ex-assistant deep-cleans online image after going public

Kate Middleton’s right-hand woman has stepped down from her role after 15 years acting as the Princess of Wales’ top aide.

Since leaving her role Middleton’s assistant has made some rather telling changes to her social media accounts which suggest that her ties to the royal family came at a cost. News first broke that Natasha Archer (37) would be departing her role as aide to Kate on July 9th. The reason for stepping down from the role was reportedly down to Archer wanting to shift gears and pursue a new business venture. However, since leaving the role Archer has made her Instagram public and unfollowed Meghan Markle on Instagram reports PEOPLE.

Royal watchers noticed that Archer was following controversial royal figure Meghan Markle, as well as the As Ever brand on the social media app after she made her account public. However, if you were to check her following list now you won’t find either of those accounts there. There are plenty of ways to interpret this move from Middleton’s aide.

Her following list on Instagram also included figures from Meghan’s inner circle such as Daniel Martin, Delfina Blaquier and Heather Dorak. She no longer follows any of these pages.

Why would Kate Middleton’s aide do this?

Archer has been working for the royal family for a long time. The most logical conclusion is that Archer was simply doing her job, keeping tabs on Middleton’s sister in-law whether she liked Meghan or not. However, some online have speculated that this confirms rumors that Kate was copying Meghan’s style.

Considering Archer was also known as the Princess’ unofficial stylist this isn’t a massive leap in logic but this obviously doesn’t prove the theory 100%. Regardless, that didn’t stop fans of Meghan adding two and two and coming to the same conclusion.

While royalists will often paint Meghan as the villain, it seems this revelation from Archer has given Meghan’s fans the perfect ammunition to turn the tables.

Archer played a large part in influencing the Princess’ style ever since she came onboard in 2010. She’s been a significant part of Kate’s inner circle. Whatever her reason for following Meghan in the first place, it seems now that she’s out of Kensington Palace Archer has no interest in seeing the Duchess of Sussex on her Instagram feed. 

Of course, the choice to go public has unintentionally put Middleton in the spotlight but was there really an underhand reason that the Princess’ assistant was following Meghan? Or was it simply a part of the job? We may never know.