Though their first child is due in the coming weeks, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are preparing for another milestone moment: the creation of their new household at Buckingham Palace later this spring. Palace officials have said Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are “very excited” about the new arrangement, “and see it as a new chapter in their lives.”

Harry and Meghan currently share an office at Kensington Palace with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Because they are moving to Windsor and growing their family, the couple decided it was time to have their own household. The move, approved by the Queen and Prince Charles, will perhaps be the biggest court shake-up in recent years. In a statement last week, Buckingham Palace announced that the office will consist of a team of press officers, private secretaries, and personal assistants, and be “created with the support” of the Queen and Charles.

As they await the birth of their first child and Meghan takes maternity leave, Vanity Fair has learned that the Sussexes are being hands-on in hiring their new team, and have been personally sifting through résumés for a new private secretary and assistant private secretary. The current private secretary, Samantha Cohen, will be leaving the Sussexes after the birth of their baby, while assistant private secretary Amy Pickerill, one of Meghan’s biggest champions, is reportedly set to pursue a new career path.

Last week, the couple appointed a communications head, Sara Latham. She has held key roles for both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and has a reputation for being connected on both sides of the pond. According to the Mail on Sunday, Markus Anderson, Meghan’s close friend, suggested Latham. After meeting her, Meghan and Harry thought she was perfect for the job. The rest of their communications team will be moving out of Kensington Palace and into new offices at Buckingham Palace later this spring.

“It will be fun, but it will be a different structure to how K.P. operates, and one Harry and Meghan will have to get used to,” said one insider.

According to those who work there, Kensington Palace is unique, because William and Kate run their household largely independently of the other royal households. The Sussex team at Buckingham Palace will answer to the Queen’s new head of communications, Donal McCabe. While the move is a major step, Harry and Meghan, who plan to be international ambassadors for the royal family and will have important roles working in the Commonwealth, will find being at the center of power—as Buckingham Palace is known in royal circles—a change from the more informal and autonomous court at Kensington.

Courtiers say it is the next big step for the Sussexes, as they strike out on their own and forge increasingly separate public lives from William and Kate. As William is preparing to succeed his father as the next Prince of Wales, the couples’ roles will take different trajectories.

“They will have space to develop and grow, without being in one another’s shadows,” said a source who has known William and Harry for years. “Harry and Meghan’s work will be very different to what William and Kate will be doing, so it makes sense for them to have their own team to support [it].”

Given the recent high turnover of staff at Kensington Palace since Meghan moved in, the selection of new staff is of the utmost importance. In less than a year, they have bid farewell to the prince’s private secretary Edward Lane Fox, two assistants, and a senior police-protection officer.

While some of these departures were planned, the sudden resignation of one assistant, Melissa Touabti, sparked speculation that Duchess Meghan was difficult to work with. Touabti was reduced to tears on occasions, and unable to cope with the pressure of working for the royal. According to the Daily Mail, Meghan likes to start her workday as early as 5 A.M., and texts her aides frequently. A source said that Meghan has clashed with members of the household who prefer to do things by the book.

The source, a close friend of Touabti, said the working relationship came to an end because the two women simply had different ideas. “They actually got on and had a good working relationship, but they had different ideas about how things should be done, which is why Melissa left,” said the source.

Touabti was apparently hired by Prince Charles’s team via concierge company Quintessentially. With Meghan and Harry handpicking their new team, the hope is that things will be much smoother moving forward.

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