Prince William’s estrangement from Prince Harry has been ‘hard and sad’ for everyone involved, royal aide reveals

A former royal aide has revealed the estrangement between Prince Harry and Prince William has been ‘hard and sad’.

Jason Knauf, who was the joint head of communications for both Harry and Meghan and William and Kate, has opened about his time working for the royal family as part of a new documentary for 60 Minutes Australia, Where There’s A Will. 

Jason, who famously accused Meghan of ‘bullying’ younger staff in a leaked internal email, worked for William and Kate from 2015 and 2021 and remained close with the family afterwards. 

Speaking in the documentary, Jason touched on William and Harry’s fractured relationship, saying the Prince of Wales has chosen to be ‘private’ about it.

In 2019 rumours started circling that the brothers had fallen out and Harry first addressed it in the documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey ,where he said they ‘have good days, you have bad days.’

Speaking in the new documentary, Jason said: ‘We have ups and downs in family even when you really love someone you can have times when you don’t want to spend that much time with them.

‘It’s very difficult to have this stuff play out in the public eye but he’s chosen to keep his thoughts on it private and I think all of us who know him really have to respect that.

‘We should do the same, but I will say of course it’s been hard and sad especially for all of us who know both of them.’

In 2020, tensions appeared to deepen between the brothers when Harry and Meghan announced their plans to step back as senior royals.

Harry later claimed in his Netflix docuseries with Meghan that William screamed and shouted at him during the Sandringham summit.

The brothers were last reunited publicly together at their grandmother Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in September 2022.  

Elsewhere Jason was also asked about what Prince Harry’s role in the future of the monarchy will be once his brother William is king. 

He said: ‘I can’t speculate on the future, they achieved a lot together and none of that can ever be taken away, this may be an extraordinary family that everyone gets to talk about and write about and see be interviewed and all that sort of stuff but at the end of the day it’s a family.’

Jason initially worked as joint head of communications for both Harry and Meghan and William and Kate.

He subsequently made serious allegations about Meghan’s alleged bullying of junior staff before quitting.

The duchess has always denied the allegations of bullying, which she described an orchestrated smear campaign against her.   

Prince Harry and Prince William speak with garden designer Pip Morrison, during the unveiling of a statue they commissioned of their mother Diana in 2021

Speaking in the documentary, Jason touched on William and Harry’s fractured relationship, saying the Prince of Wales has chosen to be ‘private’ about it

Jason opened up about his time working for Harry and Meghan and said he wishes them ‘the absolute best.’

He said: ‘We had lots of great times, working on their wedding was an amazing magical experience and I wish them absolutely all the best with their lovely family.’

Elsewhere in the documentary, which was released on Sunday, the royal aide  reflected on the intense scrutiny he faced after an internal email he wrote about Meghan was leaked to the media.

He said: ‘I think it, it’s tough, but it’s probably quite good. You know someone who has been helping other people through how to deal with the public eye. You probably had to take your own medicine sometimes.

‘You can’t choose just to take the fun stuff in any job. And that applies to the Prince and Princess as well as everyone else working for them. So I wouldn’t change anything.’ 

The royal aide became a special adviser to William and Kate and then chief executive of the Royal Foundation, the charitable arm of their official operations.

During his time working for the couple, he helped start William’s high-profile Earthshot environmental awards and the couple’s Heads Together mental health initiative, as well as undertaking 36 foreign trips with them.

He left the foundation in 2021 to move abroad.  

Jason said at the time: ‘Working for the Prince and Princess of Wales was the honour of a lifetime.

Jason was the joint head of communications for both Harry and Meghan and William and Kate 

Jason said at the time: ‘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.’

In their Netflix series Harry And Meghan in 2022, the Sussexes made clear their hostility towards Jason, with Meghan’s lawyer going so far as to suggest Prince William would have given his authority for him to come forward.

Jason responded, saying he had been a neutral witness and did not consult the Royal Household first.

Elsewhere in the candid documentary the former aid revealed how Prince William was the ‘lowest’ he’d ever seen after receiving news that the Princess of Wales and King Charles had both been diagnosed with cancer.

In 2024, both Kate and Charles were diagnosed with undisclosed forms of cancer – with Prince William later reflecting on how the year was ‘brutal’ for the family.

At the same time, wild conspiracy theories took over social media about Kate’s whereabouts as she took time out from the public eye.

Speaking in the documentary, Jason told how William was the ‘lowest’ he’d ever seen during a phone call with the prince at the time.

He said: ‘Within a couple of weeks if you’re Prince William, you find out that both your wife and your father have cancer. I couldn’t believe it. It was awful, absolutely awful. It’s the lowest I’ve ever seen him.

Jason was made a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order by the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle in 2023

‘But the problem was that all this crazy conspiracy theory stuff kicked off in the background online.

‘Was she really ill? But they didn’t want to say yet that she had cancer because they hadn’t told the children and they were still working through how to tell the children.’

Elsewhere in the documentary, the royal aide revealed how there was nearly a mishap with the announcement of the birth of Princess Charlotte in 2015.

He said that Kate and William informed him of their daughter’s arrival very early on – even before some members of the family were made aware.

But news of her birth almost leaked two hours before the palace were ready to announce it, after Jason realised he must have ‘dropped’ the press release somewhere on the street.

The release had contained valuable details including the time of birth and how much Charlotte weighed.

But miraculously, none of the media managed to get hold of it and the announcement went ahead as planned.

Jason recalled: ‘We weren’t going to announce it for another couple hours and I had this piece of paper to go write this press release

‘I’m still out there with hundreds of journalists trying to have a game face, and then I couldn’t find the piece of paper, and I think I had dropped it somewhere on the street.’

He added: ‘We managed to get through, but not announce it. But somewhere on that street the entire time was a piece of paper that said there had been a little princess born, what time and how much she weighed.

‘It was one of those things, like, heart in mouth until we got to the announcement and I got through it. I never found it and neither did any of the media though. So that’s all that really mattered.’