Former Royal Butler Shares Intimate Details About Working for Prince William and Kate, and What Prince Harry Was So ‘Concerned’ Over
Many of us will never know what it’s like to work inside a palace every day for different members of the royal family. But King Charles III‘s former butler, Grant Harrold, knows exactly what that’s like.
Harrold worked for the current king from 2004 to 2011, and in that time he also looked after Prince William and the now-Princess of Wales (formerly Kate Middleton). Here’s what the former royal butler has revealed about working with Willam and his wife and what he remembers Prince Harry, who he got to know as well, being so concerned about shortly after he started.
The former butler has this memory of Prince Harry after he got the job
Speaking on behalf of OnlineCasino.ca, Harrold shared: “I was lucky to know them and get on with them. I was employed by the [then] Prince of Wales and the [then] Duchess of Cornwall but had that honor of looking after them and Harry.”
Harrold said that not too long after he started, Harry was all “concerned” for him.
“I’ve recently said I remember in my early days I was off duty one day soon after I’d started and Harry was all concerned if I’d had food,” Harrold revealed. “I felt so lucky with those relationships. Now there’s a lot of staff, there’s an army. But back then it wasn’t like that, so I feel very lucky that I got to know them.”
He continued: “I knew them as well as I knew my parents, with respect. But that’s quite normal as a butler, you do get to know people. But I didn’t know when I took the job that it was going to be that close.”
His memories of working with the Prince and Princess of Wales
Harrold also discussed when he met Prince William for the very first time and what that was like.
“I remember the day I met William for the first time and shook his hand and I remember thinking ‘this is extraordinary’ and you have this close connection,” Harrold recalled.
He said that his pals certainly found it extraordinary too remembering a time he was “at a friend’s home and my phone would go off and I’d take the call and I’d say something like ‘Hi William’ and my friends would say ‘the only William we know you might know is Prince William’ and I was like ‘yeah’ and they said ’why’s he phoning you?’ and I said ‘I’m a butler for his family, so I look after him.’ People used to think that was really cool.”
Harrold elaborated more on his relationship with the prince saying: “I remember going to get fuel at the local garage and I took one of the cars, I can’t remember if it was a staff car or royal car, so I was filling it up with fuel. I went into the garage and I was sitting in the garage and somebody tapped my shoulder.
“I looked around and they had a motorbike helmet on and leathers. I turned around and looked away. I used to be in a reality series a year before, so people would come up and do that to me. So he did it again and I looked again and ignored, then I got a third tap. So I turned around and actually came face to face with him and the voice said ‘you don’t recognize me, do you?’ and I said ‘no, I don’t know why you keep tapping me’ and then he lifted the visor and it was William and then he started laughing like ‘did you get a fright?’ and I was like, ‘yeah!’ That was his humor, and that was the kind of relationship I had with him.”
And on his relationship with Kate, Harrold explained: “She was just fun to be around. The thing I remember is, she was quite caring, asking how I was, how my family [was]. In parts of conversations we’d be giggling and laughing. I was very much allowed to be part of that. They were obviously comfortable with me being around.”
Harrold believes Will and Kate are the most popular royals now
Harrold believes that the current Prince and Princess of Wales are the most popular royals now and that is a very good thing for the future of the monarchy. “There’s nothing really negative about them, everybody literally loves them,” he said. “It’s a bit like the queen, everybody loved the queen. Well, to an extent, I think everyone loves William and Kate so that’s good. That’s what I think has got a future, a secure future.
“The only thing that sometimes confuses me is you see historically kings and queens did not ever get involved in legal battles or suing but there’s been a lot of that going on, obviously with Harry and Meghan, the Prince and Princess of Wales. I think the queen only ever twice did that but it’s becoming more regular and that’s sadly the world we live in. They want to protect the name and the brand but I get that, I really do, it’s just royalty used to mean something quite different. I think it’s important that they show they’re just like you and me and they’re not that different but I think going back to things that have happened recently, sometimes it’s better to take the high ground and not get involved with things.”
Following Queen Elizabeth II’s death in September, a new YouGov poll showed that Prince William took over the late monarch’s spot as the most popular royal with an 84% rating. The Princess of Wales came in second with an 80% positivity rating.
