Prince William’s Former Aide Reveals Devastating Phone Call After Kate Middleton and King Charles’ Cancer Diagnoses
Jason Knauf, who worked as an aide for the Prince and Princess of Wales until 2021, said he personally “couldn’t believe” the news
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Jason Knauf, Kate Middleton, King Charles
A former royal aide is reflecting on the “awful” period when Prince William learned of Kate Middleton’s cancer diagnosis not long after his father, King Charles, had also been diagnosed.
Jason Knauf, who worked as an aide for the Prince and Princess of Wales until 2021, appeared on 60 Minutes Australia on Sunday, Feb. 23, where he detailed Prince William’s feelings after learning of both diagnoses “within a couple weeks.”
“If you’re Prince William, you find out that both your wife and your father have cancer,” Knauf said in a clip, shared to YouTube. “And that is — I mean, I couldn’t believe it.”
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Prince William, Princess Kate and King Charles attend the Ceremonial Welcome, at Horse Guards Parade, for the The Amir of the State of Qatar on Dec. 3, 2024
Princess Kate, 43, first announced that she was undergoing cancer treatment in March 2024. A few months later, in September 2024, she shared that she had completed chemotherapy and revealed last month that she was in “remission” and focused on recovery.
King Charles’ cancer diagnosis was announced in February 2024, a month before the Princess of Wales’ diagnosis was publicly shared.
As for the “awful” phone call between Knauf and the Prince of Wales, 42, regarding his wife’s diagnosis, he detailed the moment to 60 Minutes Australia. “Absolutely awful. It’s the lowest I’ve ever seen him,” Knauf said, per the clip.
“But the problem was that all this crazy, sort-of 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 were still working through how to tell the children,” he said.
Elsewhere during Knauf’s sit-down, the former aide shared that he and the Prince of Wales would speak the “most” in the “early years” about “how he and the princess were going to prepare their children for life in the public eye.”
“His childhood in front of the media was quite difficult at times and he knew that he was going to be raising his kids to deal with social media and mobile phones and all of that stuff,” Knauf said.
“… I definitely saw the worried mom and dad behind the scenes, but a lot less in recent years, which has been fantastic for them as a family,” he added.
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King Charles
Angela Terry, who met Princess Kate during a surprise stop at The Royal Marsden Hospital in London last month, told PEOPLE that while there, the royal spoke of the “shock” of a cancer diagnosis on a family and was “so open” during her visit to the hospital — where she previously received treatment.
“I overheard her talking to someone about the shock of diagnosis and she said, “Yes! The shock — and it’s not just you, it’s the whole family, isn’t it?’ ” Terry, 71, said of the visit. “They were having this lovely engaging chat. Imagine sitting at the kitchen table having a mug of coffee. She’s someone I would like to do that with.”
“She had this ‘We’re in this together’ approach, so I think people felt they were able to say all sorts of things. It was really heart-warming to watch,” Terry added.
Back in September, Princess Kate — who shares Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6, with the Prince of Wales — expressed a similar sentiment when she released video message about completing chemotherapy.
At the time, she called the 9-month journey “incredibly tough for us as a family” and noted that life “can change in an instant.”
“We have had to find a way to navigate the stormy waters and road unknown,” she added. “The cancer journey is complex, scary and unpredictable for everyone, especially those closest to you.”
