King Charles urged to not ‘cut down’ coronation

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Grant Harrold couldn’t believe his luck when he landed his dream job as King Charles III’s butler while he lived at Highgrove House, Gloucestershire, with Queen Camilla, long before the couple received their new titles. Although he thought his old boss was “amazing”, Mr Harrold revealed he did have one embarrassing incident but luckily Charles and Camilla put him at ease by laughing it off.

Mr Harrold, now 44, was a huge fan of Queen Elizabeth II since the age of just 11 years old. This later transpired into a desire to work for the Royal Family and he constantly wrote letters to the late Monarch. Eventually, he managed to secure a job as a butler for the then Prince of Wales in 2003 after six months of interviews. 

For seven years, Mr Harrold would look after guests, serve meals and drinks as well as act as a personal assistant of sorts, describing the role as akin to Downton Abbey, except the family was rather more famous. 

In an interview with Slingo in August, he said: “Some people say seven years isn’t a long time, but in the world of being a butler, seven years of having somebody in your house living with you, it’s quite intense.”

Although he loved working for the Royal Family, the then 25-year-old said he was wracked with nerves when he first met Charles. But there was one occasion when at the start of his seven-year stint with the new Monarch that Mr Harrold had an embarrassing altercation.

The etiquette expert and broadcaster said he bumped into the then Prince Charles and Camilla in Scotland, but did not know what to do as he did not know the procedure and whether to bow. 

In his state of panic, Mr Harrold launched himself into a cupboard where he hid while Charles and Camilla waited outside. When they finally asked whether he was going to show his face, he said he then sheepishly emerged. 

But Mr Harrold said they were both perfectly relaxed and laugh the whole situation off, putting him at ease. 

He said: “I remember one time I bumped into the Prince and the Duchess in Scotland, I was quite new at the time and I didn’t know the protocol for when you see them, for instance whether you bow, so I panicked… I ended up diving into a cupboard.”

He continued: “They saw me go into the cupboard and stood outside, eventually they asked if I was going to come out, I came out and they just looked at me and I pretended it was a mistake. They laughed it off and had a good giggle about that, but it showed me how relaxed it was, it was really nice.”

Other than that one incident, and perhaps a few broken things here and there, Mr Harrold said nothing ever went badly wrong. 

Mr Harrold revealed that there was plenty of room for error as each of the royals have their days meticulously planned out so any hiccups could affect the whole diary. But he said his old bosses were “amazing”, adding that none of the royals ever raised their voices at him. 

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He continued “I never ever, ever, had a cross word from the Royal family or any of my employers in the past. They were amazing. Things do go wrong, things can be late – if something was late or there was a hold up it would affect their diaries, they would always plan out what they’re doing, so it could mess up their whole day. 

“You’re always keeping on track so it doesn’t happen, but if it does, it wasn’t truly a problem. I don’t remember messing anything up badly, I’m sure I broke the odd thing but I used to always tell people.”

Mr Harrold ceased working for Charles in 2011 before his company, Nicholas Veitch Limited, founded The Royal School of Etiquette along with Blenheim Palace in 2014. 

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