• Princess of Wales has chosen right-hand woman who has been dubbed a “straight-talking, ball breaker.”
• Kate is rumoured to have hired brand management specialist Alison Corfield as her new personal secretary.
• Her appointment coincides with Kate’s last-week-launched Shaping Us campaign.

Princess of Wales has chosen a new right-hand woman who has been dubbed a “straight-talking, ball breaker.”

As part of her efforts to “shake things up” at Kensington Palace, Kate is rumoured to have hired brand management specialist Alison Corfield as her new personal secretary.

The 51-year-old mother of three will begin her new position later this month and serve as Kate’s top assistant.

As Jamie Oliver’s head of campaigns, Ms. Corfield, a former air hostess, oversaw the TV chef’s campaigns to combat childhood obesity and lower the amount of junk food served in schools.

She takes over for Hannah Cockburn-Logie, a former diplomat and Kate’s former private secretary who left her position in the fall of last year.

The Sunday Times was informed by a source who had previously worked with Ms. Corfield: “She is a real straight-talker, a ball-breaker, intensely passionate, dynamic, and genuinely funny. She is a force for good and will move things along at the palace.”

Her appointment coincides with Kate’s last-week-launched Shaping Us campaign, an ambitious undertaking referred to as her “life’s work” and intended to increase awareness of young children’s early development.

A royal source also told the newspaper: “Alison is an unusual fit. She is a bit out there for Kensington Palace, but there is a move to recruit more modernisers and people with private sector experience, not just civil servants. She will run rings around the courtiers and shake things up a bit.”

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