Prince William's Former Aide Admits This Moment Was "The Lowest I've Ever Seen Him"

Jason Knauf opened up about royal life behind the scenes in an episode of '60 Minutes Australia.'

Prince William wearing a green coat with a hood and a gray flat cap
(Image credit: Getty Images)

In 2024, Prince William spoke out about the experience of both his father and wife being diagnosed with cancer, calling last year "the hardest year in my life." Now in a new 60 Minutes Australia episode, former royal aide Jason Knauf shared what it was really like behind the scenes as the Prince of Wales dealt with two family health crises.

Knauf—who served as a royal communications secretary and later CEO of Prince William and Princess Kate’s Royal Foundation—opened up about working for the family during a Sunday, Feb. 23 episode of the show. In his interview, Knauf said that William found out about The King and Kate’s cancer news “within a couple weeks” of each other.

"If you're Prince William, you find out that both your wife and your father have cancer…and that is…I mean, I couldn’t believe it,” Knauf said. The former aide admitted that the conversation he had with William at the time was “awful.”

"Absolutely awful. It's the lowest I've ever seen him," Knauf said in the clip.

Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis wearing blue and green coats at church

The prince and princess joined the rest of the Royal Family for church on Christmas Day 2024.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Prince William wearing a blue suit and The King in a gray suit walking next to each other outside and smiling

The King announced his cancer diagnosis just weeks before Princess Kate.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

He also addressed the wild rumors surrounding Kate’s health and temporary disappearance from public life, adding, “the problem was that all this crazy sort-of conspiracy theory stuff kicked off in the background online—'Was she really ill?'”

He continued that Kate and William “didn't want to say yet that she had cancer, because they hadn't told the children and were still working through how to tell the children.”

Knauf—who worked for the royals for seven years—also shared some more lighthearted stories, like the time he accidentally misplaced a paper containing the news of Princess Charlotte’s birth. He was actually told the happy news before members of the Royal Family were, per the program, but ended up losing the note paper.

“I think I had dropped it somewhere on the street,” he said with a laugh.

When Knauf was asked if there were king lessons of sorts, the former press secretary said, “I think it’s much more personal than that,” adding that there were “private family conversations.”

Kristin Contino
Senior Royal and Celebrity Editor

Kristin Contino is Marie Claire's Senior Royal and Celebrity editor. She's been covering royalty since 2018—including major moments such as the Platinum Jubilee, Queen Elizabeth II’s death and King Charles III's coronation—and places a particular focus on the British Royal Family's style and what it means.

Prior to working at Marie Claire, she wrote about celebrity and royal fashion at Page Six Style and covered royalty from around the world as chief reporter at Royal Central. Kristin has provided expert commentary for outlets including the BBC, Sky News, US Weekly, the Today Show and many others.

Kristin is also the published author of two novels, “The Legacy of Us” and “A House Full of Windsor.” She's passionate about travel, history, horses, and learning everything she can about her favorite city in the world, London.

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