🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
Jason Knauf is a former Kensington Palace communications aide who worked at shaping the media narrative surrounding Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during some of the most difficult years faced by the royal family in the past two decades.
The American-born, media-savvy professional held a number of high-profile communications roles in London before joining the royal household, where he eventually became the right-hand man of the then-Cambridges, William and Kate, at Kensington Palace.
During his time with the royals, he published important press releases, including a November 2016 rebuke of racist reporting by the media about Meghan. Things appeared to sour in 2018 when it was later revealed that the aide had raised concerns about the duchess bullying staff members.
When William and Harry split their staff, Knauf stayed with the Cambridges, becoming an adviser before moving on to head their charitable foundation.
In 2021, Knauf found himself in the spotlight when he provided evidence to the British High Court regarding Meghan's privacy lawsuit against the Mail on Sunday newspaper, which had published extracts of a private letter written to her father in 2018.
Knauf's evidence caused embarrassment for Meghan, who made an apology for misleading the court over statements saying she had not collaborated with the authors of the Harry and Meghan biography Finding Freedom.
The court case concluded in 2021 with a win for Meghan. But, as shown in the recently released Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, it took its toll on her mental and physical health.
In the series, Knauf is mentioned by name as Meghan and Harry intimate that William had authorized him to supply his evidence in the trial. Knauf's representatives denied this accusation, as shown in a title card at the end of the show, saying that he remained neutral throughout the process.
Here is a royal timeline about Knauf and how he went from trusted aide to docuseries antagonist.
Royal Household Communications, 2015 to 2018
Knauf joined the royal household at Kensington Palace in 2015 as a communications secretary to William, Kate and Harry. When Harry met and became engaged to Meghan Markle, the aide began working closely with her as well.
Before joining the royal household, Knauf worked for the deputy prime minister of New Zealand and served as a press officer for the Treasury in Britain and as director of corporate affairs for the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Knauf became one of Harry and Meghan's trusted allies, working closely with the couple and their media communications around the time of their 2018 wedding, including handling issues surrounding press stories about the duchess' father, Thomas Markle.
When in March 2019 it was announced that the Sussexes and Cambridges would no longer share one household, Knauf stayed at Kensington Palace with William and Kate, becoming a senior adviser.
Meghan Bullying Email in 2018
Reports of divisions within the joint household of the Sussexes and Cambridges had appeared in the press from 2018 until its division in 2019. This was confirmed in March 2021 after Harry and Meghan had stepped away from their royal roles, according to a leaked email from Knauf in which he voiced concerns that a bullying culture had developed at the palace and was perpetuated by Meghan.
The email, which was sent to William's private secretary, was published in The Times of London in a story alleging that the duchess had bullied staff members who wanted to speak out before the royal's interview with Oprah Winfrey.
"I am very concerned that the duchess was able to bully two PAs out of the household in the past year," the email read. "The treatment of X [name removed] was totally unacceptable."
Knauf continued: "The Duchess seems intent on always having someone in her sights. She is bullying Y [name removed] and seeking to undermine her confidence." He went on: "We have had report after report from people who have witnessed unacceptable behavior towards Y [name removed]."
Meghan's spokespeople in the U.S. issued a response to the story that said the timing was evidently an attempt to discredit her.
The Royal Foundation, 2019 to 2022
In 2019, Knauf left the royal household to take up a new appointment as CEO of the Royal Foundation, William and Kate's charitable organization through which they conduct their work that is not officially delegated from Buckingham Palace.
The foundation overseas projects such as Kate's work with early-year childhood development and William's conservation work in Africa.
One of the key projects of the Royal Foundation under Knauf's leadership was the formation of the Earthshot Prize, William's eco-initiative to fund and scale up environmental solutions.
Knauf announced he was leaving the foundation in May 2021, citing a planned relocation to India with his partner.
In a statement released at the time, he said: "Working with The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge has been the privilege of my career. I will always be grateful for the opportunity I have had to support their leadership in the UK and internationally. The months ahead will be the busiest time in the Foundation's history with the first awards for The Earthshot Prize and more progress on our early childhood work. We have a lot to do with our amazing team and all of our partners."
Meghan Markle Lawsuit Evidence 2021
While Knauf was employed with the Royal Foundation, he submitted evidence to the British High Court related to Meghan's lawsuit against Associated Newspapers over the publication of the letter written to her father.
The evidence included a trove of letters and emails between Knauf and Meghan that, Associated Newspapers argued, showed the duchess had composed the letter with the knowledge it would likely be leaked, as she had shown a draft to the press officer.
The evidence also showed that Meghan had provided Knauf with some background briefing about her life that he could relay to authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand for Finding Freedom. This contrasted with Meghan's legal counsel's 2021 statement that she and her husband "did not collaborate with the authors on the book, nor were they interviewed for it, nor did they provide photographs to the authors for the book."
The duchess later apologized to the court and went on to win the privacy lawsuit in December 2021.
During the Harry & Meghan docuseries, Knauf's submission of evidence to the court is documented as the royal couple react to the news while in the U.S.
In an interview shown in the series, Jenny Afia, the couple's lawyer, says: "When we were just about to go to the Court of Appeal a senior member of the Duke of Cambridge's team came forward to give this witness statement which wasn't required, and sadly there's no way he could have done this without the authority of his bosses."
Knauf's legal representative told Netflix: "These claims are entirely false. Mr. Knauf was asked to provide evidence by both the Duchess of Sussex and Associated Newspapers. He was advised by counsel that evidence in his possession could be relevant, and he then provided this directly to the court, staying neutral in the process."
Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace have not commented on the series or its content.
Earthshot Prize 2022 to Present
Knauf again made headlines in July 2022 when it was announced that the results of an internal review of bullying allegations made by former employees of Meghan, in which Knauf's 2018 email was presumably assessed, would not be made public.
This preceded the announcement that, despite leaving the Royal Foundation only six months earlier, Knauf would again be working with William, this time as a trustee of the Earthshot Prize.
A press release at the time said the role of the trustees was to offer "globally diverse perspectives and drive the Prize forward as it continues to scale up and achieve its ambition to repair our planet in this decisive decade."
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more