Prince William villainous role exposed as close ally re-emerges amid Meghan's rise

Jason Knauf, the former Information Secretary to Prince William, Kate Middleton and Prince Harry at the Kensington Palace, recently sat for an interview 60 Minutes Australia.

When Meghan Markle joined the royal family after her engagement to Harry in 2017, Knauf’s responsibilities expanded to include managing her communications as well. 

It was Knauf who alleged that Meghan had bullied two personal assistants, in an email to William's personal secretary.

The man also appeared as a witness in Meghan’s 2021 privacy lawsuit against Associated Newspapers, the publishers of the Mail on Sunday, over the publication of a private letter she wrote to her father, Thomas Markle.

Knauf provided a witness statement that contradicted Meghan’s earlier claims. He revealed that Meghan had consulted him on the letter’s draft, suggesting she wrote it with an awareness it might leak, a detail used by the newspaper to argue it wasn’t truly private.

In their Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex expressed shock and betrayal over this, with their lawyer Jenny Afia asserting that Knauf’s statement—submitted while he was still working for William—could only have been authorized by his boss, the Prince of Wales.

If she is to be believed, William openly took sides against his family by using his loyalist against his sister-in-law.

When William and Harry’s households split in 2019, Knauf chose to stay with William and Kate, becoming their senior adviser and later CEO of their Royal Foundation until 2021.  William rewarded him for loyalty by honoring him with the Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order in May 2023, a move some saw as a public endorsement of Knauf’s actions.

His interview came just days after Meghan launched her new lifestyle brand "As Ever" and less than two weeks before her Netflix show "With Love, Meghan" arrives.

The timing of his interview has raised many eyebrows as it's set to resurface the allegations levelled against Meghan and could tarnish her image just when she is starting a new life in the US.

Keeping in view his loyalty to Prince William and Kate Middleton, it's highly likely that Knauf had the Prince of Wales' consent before his latest interview.