Revelations during a special episode of 60 Minutes Australia, which aired on Sunday, included a royal mishap over the birth of Princess Charlotte, how the Prince of Wales dealt with his wife’s cancer diagnosis in 2024 and an insight into Prince Harry’s role in the future of the monarchy.
Royal experts and a former aide have revealed what kind of King that Prince William will be when he ascends the throne.
It comes after the Prince and Princess of Wales’s former communications secretary, Jason Knauf, said of William in a teaser for the show: “He’s going to bring [so] much down-to-earth wisdom and connection.”
Jason worked for William and Kate from 2015 to 2021, including when they shared the same office as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
The former royal aide also spoke about William’s complicated relationship with his estranged brother, Prince Harry.
He said: “We have ups and downs in family. Even when you really love someone, you know you can have times when you don’t want to spend that much time with them.
“You know, it’s very difficult to have this stuff play out in the public eye, but he’s [William] chosen to keep his thoughts on it private, and I think all of us who know him really have to respect that we should do the same. But I will, will say of course, it’s been hard and sad, especially for all of us who know both of them.”
The Duke of Sussex first addressed rumours of a rift with his brother on Tom Bradby’s 2019 documentary, Harry & Meghan: An African Journey.
When asked by the reporter at the time whether there was any truth to the reports, Harry said: “inevitably stuff happens” but that there was little truth to the speculation, saying: “The majority of the stuff is created out of nothing but as brothers, you know, you have good days, you have bad days.”
Harry added of William: “We are certainly on different paths at the moment, but I will always be there for him as I know he will always be there for me. We don’t see each other as much as we used to because we are so busy, but I love him dearly.”
The tension deepened after Harry and Meghan’s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey and a series of shocking revelations in Harry’s memoir, Spare, in which he alleged he had a physical fight with William.
How Prince William will lead as King
The show centred around how the Prince and Princess of Wales are going it “their own way” when it comes to leading the monarchy.
“They already are, that’s not suddenly going to change with a crown on their heads,” said Roya Nikkhah, Royal Editor for The Sunday Times.
Speaking of William’s current role as heir to the throne and the monarchy’s ‘soft power’ in diplomacy, Roya commented: “We’ve just seen him in Paris with Donald Trump, the first senior British figure to meet him after his re-election. He met him before Keir Starmer, our Prime Minister. There’s a reason for that, that’s the soft power diplomacy of our monarchy.”
In a separate segment, Jason said: “The thing I have heard from Prince William is you’re going to do this in your own way. Every generation of the Royal Family has to reinvent the role for the generation that they serve.”
Plans for William’s succession
Plans for the future King’s succession are an ongoing operation, says Jason.
Yet for Prince William to ascend the throne, he must first lose his father. “It’s one of these terrible paradoxes of this job.”
The Prince’s preparation to lead the monarchy has been something ongoing throughout his life. Lessons that are “private family conversations, learning by doing,” and “personal” rather than formal lessons on how to be King.
These family talks are likely the same conversations William and Kate’s eldest son, Prince George is included in as he grows up.
William’s lowest moment
William had a difficult 2024 owing to the cancer diagnoses of both his father and wife.
At the time, the Princess of Wales withdrew from public life, which led to dozens of conspiracy theories about her whereabouts.
Discussing this in the episode, Jason said: “Within a couple of weeks if you’re Prince William, you find out that both your wife and your father have cancer. I couldn’t believe it. It was awful, absolutely awful. It’s the lowest I’ve ever seen him.
“But the problem was that all this crazy 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 they were still working through how to tell the children.”
Why the couple waited to announce Kate’s cancer diagnosis
Jason stressed that the Prince and Princess of Wales always had their children’s best interests at heart throughout Kate’s difficult health period.
“They made very clear when we were doing things like planning out the year ahead or going through the diary or anything like that, is that they had to have time to be parents first,” Jason explains.
Princess Charlotte’s birth mishap
Such was the closeness of Jason’s relationship with the Prince and Princess of Wales that the royal couple told him about the arrival of their daughter, Princess Charlotte, before they informed their own family.
“We weren’t going to announce it for another couple hours and I had this piece of paper to go write this press release,” he confessed. “I’m still out there with hundreds of journalists trying to have a game face, and then I couldn’t find the piece of paper, and I think I had dropped it somewhere on the street.”
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He added: “We managed to get through, but not announce it. But somewhere on that street the entire time was a piece of paper that said there had been a little princess born, what time and how much she weighed. It was one of those things, like, heart in mouth until we got to the announcement and I got through it. I never found it and neither did any of the media though. So that’s all that really mattered.”
No return to London
Roya voiced her opinion that the Prince and Princess of Wales would never move permanently back to London following their move to Windsor. The couple currently live with their three children in Adelaide Cottage, which is within walking distance of Windsor Castle.
“I don’t see a time where they move permanently back into London,” she told the programme.
“Their private office will be in London. You don’t need to move back in to keep the flow of monarchy going. Of course, the pressures on William and Catherine when they’re King and Queen will be bigger, but I still don’t think that the institution for William and Kate will come before family.”
The couple’s concern over their children
Royal children always grow up in the spotlight, with all of William and Kate’s children being presented to the cameras just hours after their births. Jason revealed that William worried about the impact this would have on his children, as well as the growing presence of technology and social media in their lives.
“I think the biggest thing we’ve talked about most especially in those early years was how he and the Princess were going to prepare their children for life in the public eye,” he said. “His childhood in front of the media was quite difficult at times. And then he knew that he was going to be raising his kids to deal with social media and mobile phones.
“I definitely saw the worried mum and dad behind the scenes, but a lot less in recent years, which has been fantastic for them as a family.”
Prince George’s meeting with Barack Obama
One of the sweetest moments in young Prince George’s life was when he met the then President of the United States, Barack Obama.
Reflecting on the moment, Jason said: “Afterwards, we walked out into the courtyard at Kensington Palace and the Beast, the presidential limousine, is there, and George is looking at this thing, like he has never seen anything like it. And that’s when you could be a little bit more like, ‘This is a weird job.’ It’s a really strange job to have.”
Royal aide wouldn’t do anything “differently” over Meghan bullying row
It wasn’t just William and Kate that Jason worked for, as he also worked for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. However, following a trip to Ireland in 2018, he voiced his concerns that Meghan was “bullying” junior members of staff.
The row was referenced in Meghan and Harry’s interview with Oprah Winfrey, with Meghan saying: “I don’t know how they could expect that after all of this time we would still just be silent if there is an active role that the firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us.”
Speaking years after the incident, Jason said he wouldn’t change the way he handled the issue. When asked if he’d do anything differently, he said: “No, it’s not what I would’ve sought, but you know at the end of the day, you get to do an amazing job. You’ve got to take everything that comes with it.”
Duchess of Sussex acussed of ‘bullying’
Jason didn’t just work closely with the Prince and Princess of Wales, but also the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Months after he joined Harry and Meghan during a trip to Ireland in 2018, their first as husband and wife, Jason raised concerns the Duchess was upsetting junior staff.
“I am very concerned that the Duchess was able to bully two PAs out of the household in the past year.”
“We have had report after report from people who have witnessed unacceptable behaviour.”
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Harry’s role when William becomes King
Jason was also asked about Prince Harry’s role in future. “Do you think Harry’s role could change once his brother is King?” he was asked.
He responded: “I can’t speculate on the future. They achieved a lot together and none of that can ever be taken away. This may be an extraordinary family that everyone gets to talk about and write about and see, be interviewed and all that sort of stuff. But at the end of the day, it’s a family.”
Former royal butler reveals how William becoming King may affect Harry
Former royal butler, Grant Harrold said: “I have no doubt that William would want his brother to be, not so much maybe to play a part in it [his coronation], but certainly to be there.”
When asked whether Harry would be willing to return to the fold, Grant responded: “It appears to be he’s quite happy with his new life and his way of doing things, which is, you couldn’t get further away from the Royal Family if you could by what he’s doing. But in saying that, I still think he would be there to support his brother as he has been for his father.”
Harry and William’s childhood bond
Grant also shared his sadness over the break in the pair’s relationship.
“The two of them were practical jokers. They were a team,” he said.
“They used to wind each other up, and if you were involved in it, you’d get right into this winded up situation, this comedy, brotherly kind of fun. It was like that all the time. That’s why it’s so sad, how that’s completely changed. It’s extraordinary how much it could change.”
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