A key member of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s team is leaving.
Jason Knauf, who has served for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge since 2015, will be stepping down as the Chief Executive of their Royal Foundation at the end of December 2021, the couple revealed on Thursday.
“Since 2015, Jason has been an important member of our team. We owe him a huge debt of gratitude for his dedication and hard work at The Royal Foundation and previously as our Communications Secretary “Hello! started with a statement from the couple.
“Jason has led progressive progress since taking over as Chief Executive, realizing our vision for our charitable work and the causes that matter most to us. We are sorry to see him go, but we wish him the best of luck with his future endeavors “It went on and on.
“We anticipate starting the recruitment process soon and welcoming a new Chief Executive later this year,” the pair said.
Meanwhile, Knauf said in his own speech that working for the British royals has been “the pleasure of my career.”
“I will be eternally grateful for the opportunity I have had to help their leadership in the UK and around the world,” he said.
Knauf was formerly a communications secretary at the Royal Bank of Scotland before joining William and Middleton’s household as a senior advisor before taking over as chief executive in 2019.
He has served as a media secretary for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
The Texas native made headlines in early March when it was revealed that he had lodged a lawsuit accusing Markle of intimidating staffers in October 2018.
According to the lawsuit, the former American actress allegedly drove two personal assistants out of the house and shattered the confidence of a third employee.
According to the Times in the United Kingdom, Knauf reportedly sent an email to Simon Case, William’s private secretary at the time. Samantha Carruthers, the head of human resources, was then forwarded the note. “Carruthers agreed with me on all points that the matter was very serious,” Knauf asserted in the email, adding, “I remain concerned that nothing will be done.”
The Sussexes’ representative reacted angrily to the allegations made by The Times.
“Let’s just call it what it is: a deliberate smear campaign focused on misleading and malicious lies,” a spokesman for the outlet told the outlet.
“We are saddened that a media source has lent credence to this defamatory image of The Duchess of Sussex,” the spokesman added.
Meghan Markle's legal costs will be paid by a British tabloid after she wins her lawsuit, according to a judge.
In her court actions against Associated Newspapers, the editor of the Mail on Sunday and Mail Online, Meghan Markle has secured another legal win.
The Duchess of Sussex holds the exclusive copyright to the letter she wrote to her boyfriend, Thomas Markle, months before her wedding to Prince Harry, according to a remote hearing at the High Court in London on May 5. A British judge ruled on Wednesday that the British media corporation would pay her legal fees.
According to People, Associated Newspapers Limited lawyers argued that former Kensington Palace publicity director Jason Knauf owns part of the copyright because he saw an early edition of the letter and helped draft it. The argument that Knauf co-wrote the letter was dropped after he “emphatically” refuted it. It was also discovered that the document did not belong to The Crown.
Meghan’s attorneys confirmed in official court papers that “Mr. Knauf did not draft, and has never claimed to have drafted, any portions of the electronic draft or the letter.” Meghan shared the draft with Harry and Knauf “for help, as this was a painfully traumatic experience that they had lived through with her and because Mr Knauf was responsible for keeping the senior members of the royal family apprised of any public-facing problems,” according to the documents.
Meghan secured her privacy case against Associated Newspapers in February. The Mail on Sunday infringed on her anonymity by posting a private letter she sent to her father in August, according to Mark Warby, a High Court judge in London.
“I am grateful to the courts for keeping Associated Newspapers and The Mail on Sunday to account for their unethical and dehumanizing activities after two long years of seeking lawsuits,” Meghan said in part in a statement in February. “These techniques (along with those used by sister publications MailOnline and the Daily Mail) aren’t new; in fact, they’ve been used for way too long without effect. It’s a game for these networks. It’s true life, real relationships, and very real pain for me and many others. They have caused and continue to do extensive damage.”
Meghan filed a complaint against the Mail on Sunday in February 2019 over five stories that appeared in the newspaper and on the MailOnline website. Parts of a handwritten letter she sent to her father after he failed to turn up at her royal wedding to Prince Harry in May 2018 is included in these papers.
