Kate Middleton welcomes former diplomat to her team as her private secretary

Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, has hired a former British diplomat to serve as her private secretary, a post that has been vacant since November last year.

Former British diplomat Hannah Cockburn-Logie OBE MVO will now serve as the private secretary to Kate Middleton, replacing Lancashire-born, Oxford-educated Catherine Quinn, who left the royal job after just two years. Though it's not clear why Quinn resigned so soon from the post of private secretary, a high-profile role that is similar to a chief of staff, it is said that she and Kate parted on "the best of terms," reports Mail Online.

Hannah Cockburn-Logie has 20 years of experience as a British diplomat and has spent much of her career at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office representing the United Kingdom overseas, with postings to Slovenia, India, and most recently Brussels. She also served as head of political and bilateral relations at the British High Commission in India, based in New Delhi, until September 2018.

The diplomat also arranged and accompanied Prince William and Kate Middleton during their seven-day-tour to India and Bhutan in April 2016, when she was still posted at the British High Commission in New Delhi. She also arranged Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla's visit to India in November 2017.

She was awarded Order of the British Empire (OBE) in December 2017 in recognition of her services to the relationship between the UK and India, having led Prime Ministerial visits in both directions, as well as the Cambridges' tour. She was previously awarded an MVO in 2008 for leading Queen Elizabeth II's visit to Slovenia.

She started her full-time job at the Kensington Palace at the beginning of June, as suggested by her updated profile on LinkedIn. In her role as the private secretary to the duchess, Cockburn-Logie will be responsible for organising the British royal's diary and meetings and will accompany her on public royal engagements.

With the latest addition, Kate has been served by three private secretaries since she entered into the British royal family in 2011. The senior royal was first served by Rebecca Deacon, who left her post in 2017 after a decade of service to the royal family, and then by Catherine Quinn who performed the role from October 2017 to November 2019.