A former aide and adviser to Prince William has opened up about the exceedingly difficult time the Wales family had last year.
“Within a couple of weeks, if you’re Prince William, you find out that both your wife and your father have cancer,” Jason Knauf told “60 Minutes Australia” in a new interview released Sunday. “I couldn’t believe it.”
When the interviewer asked about Knauf’s own phone call with William after Kate’s shock diagnosis, the former adviser called it “awful ― absolutely awful.”
“It’s the lowest I’ve ever seen him,” Knauf said, before explaining that “the problem was that all this crazy sort of conspiracy theory stuff kicked off in the background, online. ‘Was she really ill?’”
“But [William and Kate] 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,” he said.
Knauf began his work with the royal household in 2015, serving as communications secretary for the then-Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry in 2015 before rotating through several influential roles.
Knauf’s tenure is perhaps most widely recognized for his involvement in the bullying allegations leveled against Meghan Markle during her time within the royal family.
Kate did eventually reveal her cancer diagnosis to the world in March 2024, just before her children went on Easter break and were out of school and therefore slightly shielded from the media circus.
King Charles announced he had cancer a month prior after undergoing prostate surgery.
Neither royal has released details about the type of cancer.
The Princess of Wales let followers know in September that she had completed chemotherapy treatment. Earlier this year, she said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, that her cancer was in remission.
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“It is a relief to now be in remission and I remain focussed on recovery,” Kate wrote in January. “As anyone who has experienced a cancer diagnosis will know, it takes time to adjust to a new normal. I am however looking forward to a fulfilling year ahead. There is much to look forward to. Thank you to everyone for your continued support.”