Kate Middleton Fired Longtime Aide Sophie Agnew — Just After Sophie Returned From Her Honeymoon

The honeymoon period ended quickly for one of Kate Middleton’s longtime aides.

The Duchess of Cambridge reportedly fired Sophie Agnew this week, shortly after Sophie returned to work from her honeymoon. As Page Six reported, Sophie was one of Kate’s most loyal aides, having worked with her for the last seven years. Sophie was reported to be closely involved with the duchess’ charitable endeavor, the Royal Foundation.

As the report noted, Sophie appeared to be a casualty of a rift in the royal family. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have reportedly cut ties with the foundation, which quietly scrubbed all information about them from its official website. The change was actually announced back in May, but the fallout is apparently still ongoing, with Sophie’s firing the most recent result of the split.

The timing of her firing has caused something of a stir within the palace, Britain’s Sun newspaper reported.

“The timing of the redundancy is said to have confused palace insiders with one source revealing that Sophie had only just got back from her honeymoon after marrying insurance company director Stuart Hill,” the report noted.

Other reports painted Kate as a bit cold-hearted in sacking Sophie. One source told Daily Mail that the long-time aide was a devoted employee to Kate and firing her was seen as simply a way to save money.

“Sophie worked so hard for Kate, she loved her job and made a lot of sacrifices,” the unnamed insider told the outlet. “Everyone’s been really shocked because it was so unexpected. It seems like extreme cost-cutting.”

Though Kate has always been a target for the British tabloid media, she has been under particularly strong scrutiny in recent months amid rumors that she is feuding with her new sister-in-law Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. As The Inquisitr reported earlier this summer, Duchess Catherine took some heat for an old email asking close friends to stop referring to her as Kate, calling her by her given name of Catherine instead.

The report noted that the email was sent back in 2008, before Prince William even proposed marriage. At the time, there were rumors regarding what Kate would call herself once she became a member of the royal family, and many assumed that she would ditch the nickname Kate and go by the more formal-sounding Catherine. In the email, Kate reportedly asked her friends to get used to calling her Catherine. Though many took Kate’s email request as a joke, some thought it was serious. This is just another recent news story that paints the Duchess of Cambridge in a not-so-flattering light.