NEWS: Harkin departure prompts Sophie job speculation

The future of Hollander PR’s most famous consultant - Prince Edward’s

girlfriend Sophie Rhys-Jones - was this week the subject of furious

speculation following the departure of agency managing director Murray

Harkin.

Harkin left the company last week, nine months after he was brought in

to work alongside Rhys-Jones by parent company Hollander Communications

plc. His replacement - motor sports PR man Christopher Bibb - started

work last week with a brief to develop the division’s corporate and

automotive business Harkin, whose background is in the media and

entertainment industries, plans to launch his own business-to-business

PR firm next spring with an advisory board of ‘senior business people’.

It is believed Rhys-Jones may have some role within the new agency

although it is not clear exactly what this would be.

Harkin declined to confirm or deny Rhys-Jones’ involvement with his new

agency while Simon Allen, group general manager at Hollander

Communications, insisted that she is still working with Hollander. ‘She

remains a consultant to the company as she has been for the last 12

months’, he said.

However, he declined to comment on the suggestion that she may also be

working with another PR firm. He said that Rhys-Jones had several other

projects and that she was not, and never had been, an employee of the

company.

Now five-strong, Hollander PR’s client list includes Harrods, Granada

Group, Prime Television and Callback UK.