A nonprofit run by Meghan Markle and Prince Harry paid almost £90,000 (around $111,500 in U.S. dollars) in 2021 to a public relations firm run by Katie McCormick Lelyveld, according to tax returns obtained by The Sun.
Markle’s Archewell Foundation paid the firm, KMLSA LLC, for “strategic support for social impact PR,” The Sun reported. Lelyveld worked for Michelle Obama from 2007 to 2011 and has also worked for former Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and John Kerry. (RELATED: Nelson Mandela’s Granddaughter Has Harsh Words For Megan Markle)
Meghan Markle has kicked the political rumor mill into high gear after her nonprofit foundation, Archewell, paid Michelle Obama’s ex-press secretary and her PR company over $100,000 for strategic consulting in 2021. https://t.co/K50I3LuXpg
— TMZ (@TMZ) April 2, 2023
KMLSA describes itself as a firm that helps clients “navigate challenges with reputational, political, philanthropic, legal and financial lenses.” The company touts its “decades of dynamic experience with influential leaders” and its ability to help those leaders “navigate challenges with reputational, political, philanthropic, legal and financial lenses.”
In 2020, the Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry had a video meeting with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and the following year, she cold-called senators to ask them to pass a federal paid parental leave program. Republican West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said at the time that she could not “figure out how she got my number,” according to The Sun.
In 2021, Harry and Meghan also visited the 9/11 memorial and museum and pressed for greater vaccine equity at the United Nations, the outlet noted.