While the move is rare, it’s not unprecedented

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Her Royal Highness Camilla, Rhiannon Mills

King Charles and Queen Camilla; Rhiannon Mills.Credit : Chris Jackson/Getty; Alamy

 

King Charles and Queen Camilla are adding a royal reporter to their team.

Sky News’ longtime royal correspondent, Rhiannon Mills, will join the palace’s press office as a media secretary, according to The Times. She will be the deputy to Tobyn Andreae, the director of communications for the royal household, and succeeds Laura Sullivan in the role.

The royal communications team is responsible for media relations as well as communicating with various organisations on matters related to the monarchy.

Palace sources told the outlet that the journalist, who will reportedly start in the position before the summer, is “a great fit” for the role, citing her “intelligence, quick thinking, good humor and resilience.”

Rhiannon Mills of Sky News broadcasts live from the Lindo Wing after it was announced that the Duchess of Cambridge has gone into Labour at St Mary's Hospital on May 2, 2015 in London, England. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge is expected to give birth at the Lindo wing sometime in the next couple of weeks.

Rhiannon Mills in 2015.Chris Jackson/Getty

In her decade-plus of experience covering the British royal family as a journalist, she has joined them on tours around the world — including Japan, Africa, Nepal, India, Bhutan, Pakistan, the Middle East, New Zealand and Australia — and spoken with key figures. According to her Sky News biography page, “Her interviews have made news around the world, with Prince Harry telling her about his desire to have a family in 2015, and Prince William speaking about the Queen’s support following the death of Princess Diana.”

“She has played a major role in every significant royal event since 2015, including royal births, marriages, birthdays and celebrations when the Queen became Britain’s longest reigning monarch,” the bio adds.

Jonathan Levy, executive editor and managing director of Sky News, said: “Rhiannon has made a great contribution to Sky News. Especially on the royal beat, where she has reported on an especially eventful period in the royal family’s history. We wish Rhiannon the very best in her new role with King Charles.”

Mills also has another connection to the royals: her partner, Andrew Parsons, is a photographer often tapped by Kate Middleton and Prince William.

While it’s rare for the family to hire a royal rota reporter, it’s not unprecedented for journalists to join the palace’s communications team. Andreae is a former editor of The Daily Mail, while Simon Lewis, a communications secretary to the late Queen Elizabeth, previously worked at the BBC.

Mills will join the monarch’s press team at a tense time for the royal family, with headlines about the former Prince Andrew dominating the news cycle in recent months, including his arrest for allegations of misconduct in public office in February.