The aide who accused Meghan Markle of bullying staffers is stepping down from Prince William and Kate Middleton’s Royal Foundation.
via: The Blast
The former staffer in question is Jason Knauf. A Texas native who had been working with the Royal Family since 2015. He served under both William and Kate as a Chief Executive of The Royal Foundation. He was also part of Meghan Markle’s team in her brief stint as a full-time royal.
The accusations against Markle came in the form of an HR complaint letter that was released to the press. In which Knauf detailed the type of behavior that was common in Markle in her time as a Royal.
“I am very concerned that the Duchess was able to bully two PAs out of the household in the past year. The treatment of X* was totally unacceptable,” Knauf also added,
If this is the first time that you’re hearing about these bullying allegations there’s probably a good reason for that. The HR complaint letter was released to the press a couple of days before the Oprah Winfrey interview aired.
Therefore, the news certainly was overshadowed by the information that was made public by Harry and Meghan in the interview. Since this was a formal HR complaint it’s highly likely that the leak was deliberate, and aimed at undermining anything that Harry and Meghan said in the interview. It obviously did not work!
Is the leak the main reason why Texas native Jason Knauf is being “asked to leave” rather than making a personal decision to step away? Knauf mentioned that he was looking to relocate presumably back to the states when asked about his reason for leaving the Royal Foundation.
The fact that he is staying in his post until the end of the year and that he called working with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge ” the privilege of my career”, seems to point to the fact the split was indeed on good terms.
A spokesperson for Meghan denied all claims of bullying, and was “saddened by this latest attack on her character, particularly as someone who has been the target of bullying herself.”
