- Prince William recently honored a longtime staffer with the title of Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order.
- The staffer, Jason Knauf, made headlines in the past for making accusations of bullying against Meghan Markle.
- Some have taken this gift from William as a sign he's supportive of the allegations.
Pricne William might be the Prince of Wales, but as his latest act shows, he might also be the Prince of Petty. That's because Prince William recently bestowed an honor on a staffer who was famously at odds with his sister-in-law, Meghan Markle.
Now, it's not speaking out of school to say that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have had their conflicts with the broader royal family, and odds are, you probably have an opinion on it one way or the other. Perhaps you lean more Harry and Meghan bucking tradition, or maybe you lean more, "Respect the history of the royal family." Maybe you have a level-headed stance of "Everybody in this situation is probably a bit off," or maybe you're one of the folks who responded to this innocuous article about Meghan baking a cake by emailing us to suggest that we were perpetuating a conspiracy about how "Mad Meghan" could never have baked a cake herself.
We don't know what side you're on of the much-publicized conflict, but we now have a pretty strong sense of which side Prince William falls on. Because, as Newsweek reports, the Prince of Wales, and the older brother to Harry, "has handed an honor to a former aide who accused Meghan Markle of bullying palace staff."
Newsweek explains:
Unlike many honors, Newsweek notes, recipients of the RVO are selected by the royal family themselves, and it is often awarded to staff members. Nevertheless, this particular selection is surprising to many. "Knauf's inclusion on the list is striking, however," Newsweek says, "because of the role he played in one of the most explosive episodes in Meghan's time as a working royal—and it shows the royals are seemingly making no attempt to distance themselves from his characterization of Meghan as a bully."
Now, to be clear, we don't actually know much about the alleged bullying that so sent Knauf into a tizzy that he had to compose a 2018 email about it. All we know is what he wrote, which was that, "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 [name removed] was totally unacceptable," and, "She is bullying Y [name removed] and seeking to undermine her confidence. We have had report after report from people who have witnessed unacceptable behavior towards Y [name removed]."
We know this quote because Knauf's email was very conveniently "leaked days before Meghan and Harry's interview with Oprah Winfrey was due to be broadcast in March 2021," according to Newsweek. But that shouldn't mean we shouldn't take his allegations of bullying seriously. After all, this dude probably knows a thing or two about bullying, since he looks like he's constantly getting bullied by Tom Wambsgans at the Waystar Royco offices.
Michael Natale is the news editor for Best Products, covering a wide range of topics like gifting, lifestyle, pop culture, and more. He has covered pop culture and commerce professionally for over a decade. His past journalistic writing can be found on sites such as Yahoo! and Comic Book Resources, his podcast appearances can be found wherever you get your podcasts, and his fiction can’t be found anywhere, because it’s not particularly good.
