Former Royal Staffer Remembers Running the Halls With Queen Elizabeth: ‘This Isn’t in the Butler’s Manual’
Sharing memories of Queen Elizabeth II continues following the one-year anniversary of her death. King Charles III’s former butler is opening up about a cherished memory of the late monarch breaking protocol. The result? Him doing something “not many people can say they’ve done” with the queen.
A former royal butler ‘skipped next to’ Queen Elizabeth
Queen Elizabeth running through the halls of royal residences? While the idea may sound highly unlikely, it did actually happen, according to Grant Harrold.
Former butler to the queen’s oldest son, the now-King Charles, Harrold shared a special memory of the late monarch following the anniversary of her death on Sept. 8, 2023.
“I remember once running with the queen down a corridor, which not many people can say they’ve done,” he said, speaking on behalf of Slingo. “It was before a dinner in one of the homes, and she suddenly walked out initially and then, ran down a corridor.”
So what did the butler do when the late monarch took off at a run? “I skipped next to her,” Harrold shared. “I remember thinking, ‘This isn’t in the butler’s manual, what do you do when the queen runs?’ Well, you try to keep up with her, which is not very easy!”
Queen Elizabeth ‘winked’ after breaking protocol by entering a room before her butler
Harrold continued, recalling what happened next. “I remember going into this dining room, which is where she was running to, and she was the first in there, which isn’t the correct protocol,” he said.
At that point, “after running down the corridor,” Queen Elizabeth “looked” at the butler and “winked.”
“I remember thinking, ‘Wow, what an amazing woman,’” Harrold added, saying he’s “never forgotten” the time Queen Elizabeth ran for the dining room.
“She was a great woman, and whether we did or didn’t know her, it’s safe to say we all miss her,” he concluded.
The queen’s staff left a note on protocol for Carrie Johnson at Balmoral Castle
Sure, the queen once ran down a hallway with her butler in tow. However, most of the time, she made sure protocol was observed.
On one such occasion, as former Boris Johnson’s wife, Carrie Johnson revealed in a Sept. 8, 2023, Instagram post, handwritten notes were involved.
Recalling a stay at the queen’s beloved Scottish estate, Balmoral Castle, Johnson shared how royal aides made sure she didn’t clash with the queen and accidentally wear the same color.
During a stay at the royal residence, Johnson discovered a note — on Balmoral Castle stationery — left on her pillow. It read: “Ma’am, Her Majesty will be wearing an ice blue cocktail dress for dinner this evening.”
“Kept this note that was left on my pillow when we stayed at Balmoral,” Johnson wrote in the caption, one year after the queen’s death at 96. “How lucky I feel to have got to meet and speak with her a little. We were so lucky she was our Queen.”
Queen Elizabeth died on Sept. 8, 2022, at Balmoral Castle. She was 96.
