He is the royal aide who Prince Harry suggested was part of a Buckingham Palace plot to ‘gaslight’ and smear his wife by publicly accusing Meghan Markle of bullying Palace staff out of their jobs.
But after the Duke of Sussex said he wanted reconciliation with his family, MailOnline can reveal that Harry and Meghan’s right-hand man James Holt has offered an olive branch to their apparent nemesis Jason Knauf.
Mr Holt, a British communications expert, has liked several Royal Family-related LinkedIn posts over the past week including praising Mr Knauf’s work with the Prince of Wales.
He has also repeatedly celebrated the work of a senior aide to King Charles, Helen Cook, at a time when a deft diplomatic mission is needed to try to repair relations between the warring Windsors.
MailOnline understands Mr Holt may have recently moved back to the UK from California for family reasons – five years on from Megxit when he moved to North America with Meghan and Harry.
Jason Knauf, who is CEO of Prince William’s Earthshot Prize, may have been surprised to see his Sussex counterpart saluting his work given what Meghan and Harry are said to think of him and his boss, the future king.
Jason was once exceptionally close to the exiled couple. The New Zealander was one of just two people Harry told he was proposing to Meghan before they fell out over the Duchess’ alleged poor treatment of staff.
He has been dubbed the ultimate ‘Sussex Survivor’ and he quit the royal household after accusing the Duchess of Sussex of mistreating two colleagues and undermining their confidence.
Jason Knauf (left) is pictured with Harry and Meghan attending the Invictus Games in Toronto. He accused Meghan of bullying staff and then quit the royal household after Megxit
Jason has spoken about William and Harry’s fractured relationship, saying that it was ‘sad’ and the Prince of Wales has chosen to be ‘private’ about it. He is now back working for William
The Duchess of Sussex, 43, has always denied the allegations of bullying, which she described as an orchestrated smear campaign against her.
Mr Knauf, who made the claims and stands by them, took to LinkedIn to hail London Climate Action Week and trail how his boss Prince William, the future king, was bringing together ‘visionary leaders, thinkers, entrepreneurs, and investors to supercharge the rollout of solutions to our planet’s urgent challenges’.
James Holt was among those who ‘liked’ the post, which automatically shared it on his own feed.
James Holt, pictured on the day Harry and Meghan married, has liked a series of royal-related posts
Days later James, Executive Director of The Archewell Foundation – the Sussexes’ charity – liked two posts by Helen King, assistant private secretary to Harry’s father King Charles III.
He even ‘celebrated’ a post showing the monarch marking 25 years of the Royal Drawing School.
MailOnline has asked Mr Holt to comment. He declined, as did a spokesman for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
But a source close to Mr Holt said that the King’s aide Helen Cook is an old friend and colleague who worked with in Downing Street.
With regard to Mr Knauf, James was one of the Royal Foundation team that helped design Earthshot and he was being supportive of a good cause.
It came weeks after Prince Harry’s High Court defeat over taxpayer-funded bodyguards where he went on the BBC and made a plea for reconciliation with his family.
He claimed his father was not talking to him because of the legal battle.
Meghan has been haunted by claims she bullied royal staff – and Mr Knauf has repeatedly stood by his claims.
In February Jason insisted he ‘wouldn’t change a thing’ and has ‘no regrets’ after he accused Meghan Markle of bullying staff ‘out of the royal household’.
In his first TV interview since Jason stood by his complaint about the alleged ‘totally unacceptable’ behaviour of the Duchess of Sussex that leaked just before the couple’s Oprah interview in 2021.
Sussex aide James Holt has been liking and celebrating work relating to Prince William and King Charles this week in a move that has raised eyebrows amongst royal watchers
‘The Duchess seems intent on always having someone in her sights’, he had written in an 2018 email where he accused Meghan of ‘bullying’ and undermining the confidence of two staff.
Harry later addressed the bullying claims in the Sussexes’ Netflix docu-series, saying it was false and all the result of him and Meghan speaking truth to power.
“I can’t think what my mum went through all those years ago by herself’, he said.
‘To see this institutional gaslighting that happens, it’s extraordinary. And that’s why everything that has happened to us was always going to happen to us because if you speak truth to power, that’s how they respond’.
Jason quit the royal household in 2021 but in April this year Prince William made him CEO of his beloved Earthshot Prize.
Mr Knauf, a New Zealander who worked as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s press secretary, appeared in a new documentary for 60 Minutes Australia, Where There’s A Will – broadcast four months ago.
In 2018, he had sent an internal email raising concerns about Meghan’s alleged poor treatment of staff in the royal family, which was later leaked after Megxit.
‘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,’ he allegedly wrote.
‘The Duchess seems intent on always having someone in her sights. She is bullying Y and seeking to undermine her confidence. We have had report after report from people who have witnessed unacceptable behaviour towards Y.’
He also said the estrangement between Prince Harry and Prince William has been ‘hard and sad’ but added that William has chosen to be ‘private’ about it.
Former royal aide Jason Knauf has broken his silence after accusing Meghan Markle of ‘bullying’ junior members of staff
Jason was made a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order by the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle in 2023 – showing how good the relationship still is.
And then he returned to work for William this year.
The Duchess of Sussex, 43, has always denied the allegations of bullying, which she described an orchestrated smear campaign against her.
Harry and Meghan’s spokesman said at the time: ‘Let’s just call this what it is-a calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful misinformation.’
There was also a statement to the media calling the bullying claims defamatory.
Buckingham Palace launched an internal review into the bullying claims, but the findings were never made public.
Prior to their disagreement, Jason said he’d had ‘great times’ working with the Sussexes, and said their 2018 Windsor wedding was a ‘magical experience’.
He said: ‘We had lots of great times, working on their wedding was an amazing magical experience and I wish them absolutely all the best with their lovely family.’
Harry himself admitted in Spare that Jason was one of only two aides whom he told in advance that he planned to propose to Meghan.
James Holt is one of Prince Harry’s longest-serving team members, having led communications for the Royal Foundation from October 2017, when it was run by Harry along with Prince William and Kate Middleton.
Mr Holt, who has previously worked for the Liberal Democrats, also acted as Harry and Meghan Markle’s UK spokesman and took on the role of executive director of the Archewell Foundation in March 2020.
He has a BA degree in journalism from the University of Lincoln, and became head of media for the Lib Dems in 2010, a role in which he stayed until 2013.
Mr Holt also worked as special adviser to deputy prime minister Nick Clegg before becoming his head of communications.
And he took on the voluntary position of communications director for Pride in London between 2016 and 2017.
After Megxit he moved to the US with the Sussexes and had become their most trusted aide.
