Princess Charlotte’s birth announcement was lost in the streets of London for hours before the public knew she was born — but luckily, no one found it.
Jason Knauf, a former aide to Prince William and Kate Middleton, shared the story as part of a 60 Minutes interview released on Sunday, February 23. Soon after Charlotte was born on May 2, 2015, Knauf was given a piece of paper with all the details the public would want to know, such as the time of her birth and her weight.
However, Knauf lost the piece of paper.
“We were gonna announce it for another couple hours, and I had this piece of paper to get right this press release,” he explained.“I’m still out there with the hundreds of journalists trying to have a game face. And then I couldn’t find the piece of paper.”
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To complicate things, Knauf believed he had “dropped it somewhere on the street.”
Luckily, “we managed to get through without an upset,” he continued. “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.”
Knauf never recovered the piece of paper, which is likely in a landfill somewhere in the U.K. by now.
Knauf also worked for another famous royal pair: the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. In fact, Knauf is the aide who first lodged a bullying complaint against Markle. He later rescinded the complaint in August 2021
A spokesperson for Harry and Meghan denied the report at the time. “Let’s just call this what it is — a calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful misinformation,” they said in a statement to The Times. “We are disappointed to see this defamatory portrayal of The Duchess of Sussex given credibility by a media outlet.”
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The couple’s team also pointed to the timing of the report, which came out days before the Duke and Duchess sat down for a tell-all interview on CBS in March 2021.
The statement continued, “It’s no coincidence that distorted several-year-old accusations aimed at undermining The Duchess are being briefed to the British media shortly before she and The Duke are due to speak openly and honestly about their experience of recent years.”
Markle’s representative told Us Weekly at the time, “The Duchess is saddened by this latest attack on her character, particularly as someone who has been the target of bullying herself and is deeply committed to supporting those who have experienced pain and trauma.”
