Charles hands New Year Honour to ex-royal aide who accused Meghan of bullying
King Charles has handed a New Year Honour to a former royal aide who accused Meghan Markle of bullying.
Jason Knauf has been made a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (RVO) in recognition of his services to the Royal Family.
He spent a combined total of seven years working for the Prince and Princess of Wales and Prince Harry & Meghan.
He ended his career with the royal household as chief executive of William and Kate’s Royal Foundation, stepping down at the end of 2021.
Honours within the RVO are in the King’s gift and are bestowed independently of Downing Street to people who have served the monarch or the royal family in a personal way.
Whether someone gets an honour – and the honour they get – is normally decided by an honours committee, whose recommendations go to the Prime Minister and then to the monarch, who awards it.
Mr Knauf gained notoriety in 2018 when he made a complaint about Meghan to William’s then-private secretary while working as Sussexes communications secretary.
He alleged that Meghan had ‘driven out two personal assistants and was undermining the confidence of a third’.
‘I am very concerned that the Duchess was able to bully two PAs out of the household in the past year,’ Knauf wrote, after first raising concerns with Samantha Carruthers, the head of HR, the Times reported.
‘The Duchess seems intent on always having someone in her sights,’ he continued.
‘She is bullying Y [name removed] and seeking to undermine her confidence,’ he said, before adding ‘I remain concerned that nothing will be done.’
The duchess’s legal team have strenuously denied the allegations and claimed the accusations were part of an orchestrated smear campaign ‘used by Buckingham Palace to peddle a wholly false narrative’.
Before joining the royal household, American-born former corporate affairs executive Mr Knauf worked for a range of institutions – from the office of the New Zealand prime minister, to HM Treasury and the Royal Bank of Scotland.
He became the communications secretary to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry in 2015.
Following this, he led the press team for Meghan and Harry and later became a senior adviser to William and Kate.
Upon receiving the Honours, Mr Knauf said: ‘Working for the Prince and Princess of Wales was the honour of a lifetime.
‘Receiving this recognition means more to me than I can say. I am incredibly grateful.’
Mr Knauf led a review of the Royal Foundation’s role and structure from March 2019, before becoming its chief executive in September of that year.
During his time Mr Knauf oversaw the launch of the Foundation’s Earthshot Prize – William’s ambitious £50 million environmental prize, now an independent charity, which recognises solutions, ideas and technologies that ‘repair the planet’.
A total of 1,107 recipients recieved Honours this year, 50% of whom are women.
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