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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Zoe Forsey

Meghan Markle's new trustee likes to keep something terrifying in his office

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's charity Sussex Royal is growing as the couple continue to hire an impressive team to help make their dreams a reality.

They've already taken on trustees and a head of communications, and today they announced two more new additions to the team.

Stephen Cooper, CEO of the UK's oldest privately owned bank C Hoare & Co, is now on board along with financier and philanthropist Professor Stefan Allesch-Taylor.

Stefan founded the Afri-CAN Children’s Charity, which builds nurseries and provides more than 900,000 free breakfasts every year for vulnerable kids in South Africa.

He was awarded a CBE in 2014 for philanthropic and charitable services in the UK and Africa.

His impressive CV shows he shares many passions with Meghan and Harry, but an interview with the Independent back in 2008 revealed some more unusual details about him.

Professor Stefan Allesch-Taylor CBE (Youtube)

In the piece, he reveals that he used to keep piranhas in his office.

As you do...

The Sussexes have focused on choosing directors who share their values and their vision of what they want to achieve through their charity work.

Professor Allesch-Taylor and his wife Beaky once donated £33,000 to a six-year-old girl who lost both her legs to meningitis , to help fund the cost of building work in her home.

The Mirror matched his donation, allowing them to hit their fundraising target for the work which meant she could finally spend Christmas with her family.

The businessman, who left school at 18 and became a stockbroker, reportedly used to keep piranhas in his office, and has his own podcast - The Investor: London - in which he hunts for a start-up firm in need of his £250,000 investment.

No thank you... (Getty Images)

He also helps the homeless, and set up the Central London Rough Sleepers Committee where he funds over 90 per cent of the meal events.

He is chairman of the UK-based charity Pump Aid, which provides over 10 per cent of the national rural water supplies for both Zimbabwe and Malawi, combined with over 9,500 community partners serving over 1.35 million people.

Stephen and Stefan will be joining a number of high-flying employees at Meghan and Harry's charity , which they set up after splitting from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's Royal Foundation.

The split announcement followed reports of a rift, first between Kate and Meghan, then between future king William and his younger brother Harry.

The Fab Four announced they will be splitting their charity work earlier this year (AFP/Getty Images)

Meghan and Harry's new team already includes diplomat Fiona Mcilwham, who they appointed as their new private secretary last month - and looking at her CV it's easy to see why.

She was one of the youngest British ambassadors when she was posted to Albania in 2009, and has a passionate for women's rights.

The private secretary  job is the most prestigious offering within a royal household, and involves organising what they're up to and managing other members of the team.

Ms Mcilwham, who refers herself as a 'wannabe supermum' on  Twitter  , will replace the Queen's former aide Samantha Cohen who is leaving the position later this year.

Hillary Clinton's 2016 electoral campaign senior advisor Sara Latham is also on the books, taking up the role of head of communications.

Fiona Mcilwham (Fiona Mcilwham/Twitter)

Ms Latham joined the household from Freuds where she oversaw global corporate accounts with a "particular emphasis on executive thought leadership and purpose-led campaigns," the Palace previously said.

The charity's first trustee was Karen Blackett, chairwomen of the media agency MediaCom UK.

She took the top stop on the 2015 Powerlist of the 100 Most Influential People of African or African Caribbean Heritage in the UK.

Karen Blackett OBE (Getty Images for Cannes Lions)

Heather Wong is understood to be taking the role as Meghan and Harry's deputy private secretary.

She has been assistant private secretary to   Harry  at Kensington Palace for some years.

Prior to joining, she was Associate Director at Milltown Partners, a London based strategic consultancy working with businesses and individuals to solve complex communications, public policy, and reputation challenges. 

She also previously acted as deputy assistant secretary in the US Department of Homeland Security and has a raft of other impressive roles on her CV.

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