The announcement of the birth of Princess Charlotte was highly anticipated with media from around the world gathered outside St. Mary’s Hospital in Paddington awaiting news for days before Catherine, now Princess of Wales, was admitted to the Lindo Wing there. But it turns out that the royal birth could have been discovered by accident after a vital piece of information went missing.
Jason Knauf, who was then an aide to the then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, was tasked with making sure the big news about the arrival of the royal baby went out according to plan. Speaking to 60 Minutes Australia in a special programme about the Royal Family and Prince William, he revealed that an accident in the run up to the announcement almost let the news slip early.
As with the arrival of their first baby, Prince George in 2013, William and Catherine wanted some time alone with their new baby before sharing their big announcement with the world. Jason Knauf said that, as they enjoyed their baby bubble, he had to draft the official announcement. He told the programme ”I had this piece of paper to get right this press release and I’m still out there with these hundreds of journalists, trying to have the game face and then I couldn’t find the piece of paper...”
Behind the scenes, members of the Royal Family and the Middleton family were also been told of the birth of the new baby. But Jason Knauf soon realised that this much sought after information could be discovered any time. He revealed ‘‘I think I had dropped it somewhere on the street…..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…”
He wrote up the press release and the announcement was timed to perfection with Buckingham Palace making an official statement just as all the details of the new arrival were shared by Kensington Palace. And soon, the world’s media had the story they wanted when William and Catherine decided to take their new baby home just hours after her birth.
However, none of them realised that the top secret information may well have been fluttering around their feet for hours before it was revealed. The document never turned up, with Jason Knauf saying”I never found it….and neither did any of the media, so that’s all that really mattered.’”
Charlotte Elizabeth Diana was born on May 2 2015.
