Former Royal Butler Reveals What Amazed Him About King Charles’ Infamous Pen Incident
Just a few days into his reign as Britain’s new monarch, King Charles III was making headlines for a reason he probably wished he hadn’t when he was seen on camera losing it over a fountain pen.
Now, a man who used to work for Charles and his wife (formerly Camilla Parker Bowles) is revealing what “amazed” him about that infamous pen incident.
King Charles loses his temper over a leaky pen
On Sept. 13, Charles and Camilla were at Hillsborough Castle when the king accidentally signed the wrong date on a document. Upon realizing his mistake, Charles noticed that some ink from the fountain pen he was writing with transferred onto his palm. He quickly stood up and voiced his frustrations about the pen saying: “God, I hate this!”
The queen consort then pointed out: “Oh look, it’s going everywhere.” At that moment an attendant took the leaky pen from Camilla and gave her a new one to use.
But the king’s temper continued to flare as he wiped his hand and angrily exclaimed: “I can’t bear this bloody thing! It’s what they do every stinking time!” before he disappeared from view.
What ‘amazed’ Charles’ former butler about that incident
Grant Harrold, who worked as Charles’ royal butler from 2004 to 2011, revealed what “amazed” him when he watched the video of his former boss.
Speaking on behalf of OnlineCasino.ca, Harrold said: “[Charles] is very polite and very chilled. I think the thing with the pen incident was that he was trying to sign the proclamation and the table was quite small. I’m amazed — this is why they need a good butler like me back again — I’m amazed they didn’t have a table next to him where the pen equipment could go so he could get the pen from the other table. It was crazy trying to put everything on one table.
“And for him, he’s aware he’s got to sign and this is part of becoming king, everyone’s watching and if something goes wrong I completely understand he’s going to get frustrated. It was unfortunate but he’s human.”
The king’s former butler added: “The pen leaking was awful, you know sometimes you might pick up a pen in your hand and it leaks, you might have a few curse words, try to clean your hand and everything. But when you’ve got the media watching you’re going to have your moment of annoyance … He is somebody who is usually calm and collected. But he’s turned it into a bit of a joke. I noticed recently he made a comment about ‘at least I’ve got a good pen.’ That’s what’s good about him, he’s aware that all happened at the time and as always he’s turned it around and made it into a positive which is something I think he’s very good at.”
How he thinks his former boss has handled himself as king so far
Harrold also talked about how he thinks Charles has done taking over the role as the country’s new sovereign and why it’s been “difficult” for him.
“It’s tricky because he’s been the longest Prince of Wales in history, the oldest monarch to become a king, he’s the oldest we’ve ever had. He’s not quite a spring chicken,” Harrold stated. “But I still think he looks good for his age. There have been a couple of little faux pas, the pen, etc. unfortunately for him at that point the world was watching his every move and I know people have said maybe he was moody or annoyed but he’d literally just lost his father within one year and the next year he’s lost his mother.
“Not only that, normally when we lose someone we get the chance to hide, to get away from it, and to grieve and process it. But for him it’s the opposite, he’s on the world stage and everyone wants to see what he’s going to do, what he’s going to say, what are his first actions, all these firsts. So for him, it’s really difficult.”
