Jason Knauf used to be the communications guy at Kensington Palace a decade ago. He worked for both Prince William and Prince Harry, and Knauf was still working palace comms when Harry fell for then-Meghan Markle. Knauf was there for the Sussexes’ courtship, wedding and the first year of their marriage. Then something switched and he became solely part of William’s team. Knauf was the one who organized the purposefully vague “bullying” accusation against Meghan and Knauf was the one doing William and Kate’s bidding in Meghan’s lawsuit against the Daily Mail. At some point, Knauf shifted from “working at KP” to “CEO of the Royal Foundation” to “informal advisor to Prince William” and he held various positions with Earthshot. Knauf recently gave another quasi-authorized interview about the Waleses and Sussexes to 60 Minutes Australia too, which marked another round of BS “bullying” discourse, timed specifically ahead of the debut of With Love, Meghan. Well, now Knauf has been appointed the new CEO of Earthshot.
Prince William’s Earthshot Prize has announced a change in leadership, as CEO Hannah Jones is stepping down. She will be replaced by Jason Knauf, former CEO of The Royal Foundation, who has been appointed CEO by the Board of Trustees.
The pair are now working together to ensure a smooth transition over the coming months and Hannah will continue to give strategic advice on innovation and sustainability to Kensington Palace.
As they said, Knauf used to be CEO of the Royal Foundation and that’s when he and his team put together the Earthshot Prize as some busywork for William. William got bored of Earthshot pretty quickly, so it was removed from the control of the Royal Foundation and remade as a stand-alone thing, and Knauf also had a position within Earthshot. Now he’s CEO of Earthshot and that means… something. I guess. I mean, the point is that Knauf never really went away. Circa 2022-23, “royal sources” made a big deal about how William’s core team was in flux and many of the people responsible for the shenanigans were gone, but William retained his close alliance with Knauf throughout. Knauf does a lot of William’s dirty work on the Sussex front especially. So this is Knauf’s reward, I guess.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar, 60 Minutes Australia screengrab.
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- North America Rights Only – London, UK -20211017- The 2021 Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony at Alexandra Palace -PICTURED: Catherine Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William -PHOTO by: INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated before publishing
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- North America Rights Only – Glasgow, UK -20211101- Evening Reception for the Attending Heads of State and Government, to mark the Opening Day of the Cop26 Summit in Glasgow. -PICTURED: Catherine Duchess of Cambridge -PHOTO by: INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated before publishing
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- EMBARGOED UNTIL 2100BST Britain’s Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge attend the first ever Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony at Alexandra Palace in London on Sunday 17th October. Created by Prince William and The Royal Foundation, The Earthshot Prize has led an unprecedented global search for the most inspiring and innovative solutions to the greatest environmental challenges facing the planet.,Image: 638387277, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: EMBARGOED UNTIL 2100BST, Model Release: no, Credit line: Alberto Pezzali / Avalon
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- EMBARGOED UNTIL 2100BST – Chief Executive of the Royal Foundation Jason Knauf holds a speech as he attends the first ever Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony at Alexandra Palace in London on Sunday 17th Oct, 2021. Created by Prince William and The Royal Foundation, The Earthshot Prize has led an unprecedented global search for the most inspiring and innovative solutions to the greatest environmental challenges facing the planet.,Image: 638402769, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Alberto Pezzali / Avalon
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- North America Rights Only – Glasgow, UK -20211101- Evening Reception for the Attending Heads of State and Government, to mark the Opening Day of the Cop26 Summit in Glasgow. -PICTURED: Catherine Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William -PHOTO by: INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated before publishing
I knew it. I knew this was the intention of that interview he did. It was to reintroduce him. Prince William is truly evil
I THINK ITS A PERFECT FIT 😎 WHAT DID THEY SAY ABOUT BIRDS OF A FEATHER 🥱
Birds of the same feather peg each other, 😄😄😄😁😁. I’m convinced this is true of both these fcukers.
If it were a movie, that man would have been considered a KP double agent in secret services/espionage circles. Now he would be widely considered as a KP agent for the Prince of Wales in secret services/espionage circles.
Unfortunately based on what I’ve learned and deduced over the years from published information, the double agent operation has been a real life experience for the Sussexes followed by many people around the world. The man in my view has been continuously working behind the scenes to sabotage the Sussexes since Harry introduced Meghan to the KP Household and he continues to be rewarded for it. He, in my opinion, will never stop.
My heart ❤️ goes out to the Sussexes. I pray for their physical and mental well-being and their continued financial independence. I will continue to support them because they are not being treated as human beings but as commodity by people who financially benefit from them through content for sale or those who expect them to be their avatars for whatever cause they desire them to represent or promote.
Exactly what I was going to say.. even the evil part.
Remember what Diana and Harry revealed. The men in suits manipulate the principals. The principals would have to be malleable to the manipulation and evil intent. They say evil begets evil 👿. Look at Charles today. He cuts a lonely empty figure strutting around with a hyena for a consort. He does not look happy or contented with the vast wealth he has and people in his circle. He looks sick and lonely, barely able to walk. Years of plotting and scheming with Camilla left a lot of bodies on the ground but the adoration he hoped for as king is not there for him. Pathetic and evil!! Like his father, I believe William will pay for his evil scheming with Knauf and sabotage of the Sussexes. Happiness and contentment will elude him and he will likely suffer like his father after becoming King. 🤷🏽♀️
Thought: this seems very conveniently timed to the Sentebale debacle – to the point it leads me to question: what did Knauf know and when did he know it?
Chandauka’s insistence on turning Sentebale towards “environmental causes” was the first tell, tbh. If KP was ‘coordinating the attack’ on Sentebale, was Knauf himself acting as Billy Idle’s instrument? Was he coordinating with Iain?
If only we had journalists of repute who would dig into this and report about it… *coughBylineTimescough*
Of course, he has. I guess this is a place for Knauf to park for the next few years until William becomes King. Then, we’ll see him in BP.
Without a doubt.
Yes good and productive people can form deep relationships with colleagues and work with them repeatedly through their careers but Charles and William both seem to have acquired that one guy who knows the dirt on them and can reliably be used to do any dirty work (that includes sometimes taking the fall for them). They are weak men and someone figured out how to play that to their advantage. Charles had to publicly distance himself from his guy (Fawcett I want to say?) due to the bags of money and other financial misconduct but you can be sure he’s still around. Much as Knauf will always be whispering in Williams ear.
He and William deserve each other. He better watch out though huevo could use him as the fall guy. Like charles used Fawcett
Thank you, I just added a comment above about the similarities between William and Charles having their guy each but couldn’t remember Charles’s guys name.
I hope Harry never talks to Willam again.
Jason Knauf is to William, as Michael Fawcett was to Charles and we all know how that ended.
I’m not surprised by this move at all. I suspect Knauf was in the running to be CEO at KP before William and Kate dropped the idea. As Kaiser said Jason Knauf never really left KP. But are we going to have press articles about William’s inability to keep staff given that the CEO has stepped down?
How Romantic
This is just…it shocks the conscience, as we say in my profession. William is really, actually, precisely who and what he seems to be. I hope Harry nails him in Spare 2 Electric Boogaloo.
Yeah, Jason never really went away. He had to step out of the spotlight after he made a mess of Meghan’s defamation case, offering to testify and inadvertently helping her win the case. He was also given some kind of made up royal honour for his loyalty. And he tried his best to distract from Meghan’s Netflix series launch with that interview. I think it’s pretty clear that he’s still advising the Wails and informing their communication strategy.
So it’s not exactly a surprise that Jason is back in the royal fold, but I am a bit surprised that it’s an official role. I thought they’d have him in the penalty box for a little while longer. Immediately giving him an official position with a title seems a bit… desperate? Almost like he might have some leverage on TOB?
It is such a brazen move on William’s part. But not surprising since William knows the press will protect him. Well the country will get the king they deserve since no one bother to school William all this while. The tabloid hatred of the Sussexes leave them to protect William at all cost
I believe he has been the KP (Cambridges/Wales) guy behind the scenes responsible for sabotaging the Sussexes every step of the way since H introduced M to the KP household and continued to this day. I believe he’s William’s source feeding the tabloids about how William feels towards Harry and Meghan (Sykes, et al probably have him on speed dial and vice versa). The invisible contract (the calls are coming from inside the house).
Could Jason be William’s side piece? I wonder.
Indeed
That thought has crossed my mind.
I’ve been saying that those two have three beards between them for years. How else do you explain Jason quiting to join his husband in Asia and then never leaving Willy’s side? The heir has a type and it’s not Kate, who likely promised to look the other way as a condition of their marriage.
Yeah, one has to ask! It’s certainly crossed my mind!
I think so. There has to be a reason why everyone is covering up so much for Peg. Nobody really cared about him sleeping with 🌹 as it turned out, so what could it be. Gay affair, a lovechild, 🐶-ing, Kingston are some of my main bets. 🙂
IMO definitely..
As Fawcett is Charles.
Looks like William’s chicken has come home to roost?
Edwin Edwards (corrupt Louisiana politician) once said, “The only way I could lose this election is if I am caught in bed with either dead girl or live boy.” I think of this quote when I wonder why some of the sycophants in Willy’s orbit have never been culled and why the press suddenly became so favorable towards the wails and so continuously vicious towards the Sussexes. WHAT is being covered for the heir?
He probably fell in love with a Knife during his Eton years. Happens. Maybe that’s why Lazy doesn’t want George to go to Eton. Another Piers Gaveston and Edward II pairing
Not surprising, but disgusting nonetheless
Continuing the theme, this could be the cast of another season of the White Lotus. The theme being, shady people who enable each other, yet, who can only be checkmated by other people just as shady. I would say Knauf — vile man — reminds me of Armand from season one, but the thing is, Armand wasn’t evil. He was actually a lot more likeable than the douche bro on his honeymoon. Knauf and William however remind me of Armand and douche bro, like a tweedledum & tweedledee version of bromance. Whether or not they’re actually intimate. There’s something personal at stake for both of them in this ménage a trois in which Kate is a third wheel. Meghan must have taken one look at this man who thinks himself slick, and recoiled. Harry, ditto. I feel like I need a shower after just looking at his photos. I mean. Ick.
In such places, people are needed who are submissive to the point of self-sacrifice. There are people who serve the sick, the poor, the helpless, the marginalised and the convalescent, and there are people who serve only power and the ruling class. What moves the world forward is visible. Was it not Musk who described empathy as a disease?
Jason Knauf, who had/earned himself a bad reputation while working at the Royal Bank of Scotland because of the way he treated colleagues and people in general, is who Bulliam the Incandescent and Keenshot Earthflop deserve.
The guy was bad news while working at KP — see the way he lied about Meghan, is bad news, and will continue to be bad news while working at Earthflop.
I wonder what he holds over Harry’s brother — if that one is willing to continue to employ JK.
Fingers crossed for it to come out eventually.
My first reaction: 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Second reaction: so Earthshit money will now mostly go to Knife.
Third reaction: Knife needs a Ray Mill house type of arrangement.
He going to be William’s private secretary when he becomes king I’m sure of it.
He’ll probably get a peerage — Lord Liesalot.
This is giving King James I vibes. I can also see JK doing the red box paperwork because Peg has football business to attend to.
There are actually many examples of male favourites to the English king over the years because it’s pretty clear inherited power sets up weak men with too much power. Knauf is one of many who know how to play men with weak characters for their own power.
This. I don’t think there’s any romantic relationship as some people are suggesting, I think it’s purely weak men with ‘power’ and other men who ingratiate themselves and make a life out of it. Doing very well for themselves in the process.
Ok but I should also add that a lot of these men considered to be favourites were also called sodomites, especially for Edward II. But it was similar for James I as well.
Knauf is prepared to do anything to please William and so he won’t get rid of anyone like that. What Knauf did to Meghan, which at minimum breached an NDA wouldn’t be tolerated by anyone else. Let’s not forget the emails Knauf provided to the Daily Mail only helped to boost Meghan’s case and the court of appeal decision made sure to point this out.
I agree that Knauf is the Fawcett for William. He’s likely a Hugh Despenser sort too.
What is not mentioned are his links to Dan Wooten and all that shady business.
Fun fact: When Jason first came on the scene, Celebitchy’s nickname for him was “Poor Jason”.
You know I always think of that when stories about him come up. In the beginning we really felt for him and his attempts to polish the turd that was/is WanK.
I started reading around the flybe era so its always funny to hear about him being referred to as “poor Jason.” Poor Jason was really a snake. The snakiest of snakes.
Is that you Funeral Truth Seeker? Remember those times and the edited video afterwards. Was happy to see others saw the same thing I did.
Kaiser wrote:
“Knauf was there for the Sussexes’ courtship, wedding and the first year of their marriage. Then something switched and he became solely part of William’s team.”
It was not so much that things changed as that it came to light that Knauf had always been William’s man and his spy.
Kanye is William’s Thomas Cromwell.
He sure is. Cromwell paid dearly for his support of the king and all his plotting and scheming to please king henry
Yes, Knauf wasn’t really there for their courtship or the first year of their marriage. Meghan didn’t work for the royal family until after marriage so there wasn’t really any communication besides occasional text messages. They had already moved out of KP and to Windsor by the time Archie was born and they moved their communications to BP. There was already issues at KP before the anniversary of their first year of marriage. The staff at KP were already leaking to the media and breaking NDA with no pushback from KP, William or Kate. Jason reported bullying claims without the consent of the people he claimed were bullied. The people he claimed were bullied even refused to make bullying complaints then and years later.
It’s always felt very pointed that Thomas Markle specifically named Jason Knauf as his point person during that Australia news interview. He meant to name him and subsequently it was taken down within hours iirc.
It’s no coincidence that Melissa Toubatti came on as Meghan’s PA with Knauf’s reco. These people are so sleazy.
Was there some story about Wooton and Knauf going to school together in New Zealand? Does return of Knauf mean return of this other creature in some way? My goodness, the British monarchy is turning into a real soap opera full of seediness and corruption and amorality. Will no decent human being step in? Oh, right, they drive them out.
Yes Knauf and Wootton were at the same university in New Zealand at the same time.
I doubt there can be a return for Wootton. He is facing court. But they will protect him, maybe he has proof…
“Dan Wootton tricked colleague into sending intimate pictures, court told”
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3ev428eepvo
“Dan Wootton Hit With £7,500 Costs Over Failed Court Bid to Name ‘Catfishing Victim’”
https://bylinetimes.com/2025/04/10/dan-wootton-hit-with-7500-costs-over-failed-court-bid-to-name-catfishing-victim/
Could William be rewarding Jason for a role in the Sentebale meltdown? Just how well does Jason know Sophie’s paid Sentebale consultant and Nandi employee, Sarah E?
My thoughts were going in a similar direction. That has to do with Sentebale. Couldnt figure out how, maybe a message sent to Harry.
I will be interested to see where Hannah Jones goes next. I wonder why she resigned. Was she pushed out by Jason? Interesting shift to make after such a short tenure – CEO less than 5 years. They say in the transition she will advise on innovation and sustainability but where to next? Sentebale maybe? Anything linked to Knauf is usually sketchy imo. Keeping my eyes 👀 open on this new evolution. Curious 🧐
This screenshot of 60min of Jason Knauf gives so much William energy, I find it almost disturbing
The other one of William’s KP operatives I am looking to see come out of the woodwork and reintegrate into William’s fold/KP operations in the near future is Simon Case. I expect he and Knauf will be the future men in suits controlling the palace operations for the reign of King William. I may be wrong but will see when that time comes. 🤷🏽♀️
Knauf is William’s Roy Cohn. So many similarities.
I think the promotions and honors Knauf get are payoffs for doing William’s dirty work. Knauf has enough firt (connection to the Markle Monsters, bullying allegations, the investigation,) for Parliament to vote to pull William off the throne. He was let go after Meghan’s victory in court only to come back. The Windsors usually tie up loose ends.
I feel like Will just moves Jason around to where there’s a need because Will doesn’t have many people who are willing to work for him/there’s no one else to take the job. I picture Will not wanting to do the work to actually write a job description, interview, hire and manage someone. He seems like the guy that hires whomever he knows or is sitting next to him at lunch.
I wonder why Bloomberg is willing to go along with this.
It is possible, of course, that Knauf felt that he was being sidelined (especially as it appears that Christian Jones is very much back IN the fold while he was hardly mentioned), and so, knowing that the Earthshot CEO was stepping down (possibly even having instigated her departure), he gave that interview mentioning the Sussexes as a way to ensure that HE would be the replacement. Talk about failing upwards! So yes, he used/hinted at his kompromat on William in a very obvious way, and was promptly rewarded. No sympathy for the other brother.
What a venal and vile way to live in the world. Hopefully one day the truth about this one comes out.