Few people get an inside look at the inner workings of the Royal Family—but one young boy who imagined dancing with Queen Elizabeth manifested his dreams into reality when he eventually became a royal butler. Grant Harrold, whose new memoir, The Royal Butler: My Remarkable Life in Royal Service, was released on September 23, tells Marie Claire that he was always a huge fan of the royals, particularly the late Queen.
After working at several private homes, Harrold was offered a job as a butler for the then-Prince of Wales at his country home, Highgrove House, in 2004. Harrold's ultimate dream then came true when he was invited to the Ghillies Ball at Balmoral Castle in 2005, where he danced with none other than Queen Elizabeth.
Harrold explains that he wanted to "paint a real picture of what it's like [working for the royals] without breaking confidence" in his book, and unlike many other royal tell-alls, he aimed to do it "in the most positive way." He worked for Prince Charles until 2011—an era the former butler describes as “the golden years.”
“He just got married, he was so happy, everything was going so well," Harrold recalls. "Highgrove was booming…His mother having so many wonderful Jubilee parties.”
Grant Harrold poses in the same kilt he wore to dance with Queen Elizabeth 20 years ago.
Harrold now travels the world as an etiquette consultant and royal commentator, and says that what might surprise people the most about working with the royals was "the comedy."
"God, we used to laugh every week, there’d be something, something would happen," he adds. "And we loved it. And that's what I really liked about it. It was a real fun environment." In one such story from his book, Harrold describes the staff hiding a mannequin in his room to prank him—and then realizing that Prince Charles himself was also in on the joke. The former butler also found himself in the midst of a hilarious self-tanner mishap with his royal bosses, and even got into water balloon fights with Prince William and Prince Harry.
Harrold was invited to the wedding when Charles and Camilla married in 2005, and speaking of the controversy surrounding those early days of their relationship, he says, "All I know is I witnessed the two of them, how they were, how happy she made him, how great she was with him, how she makes him laugh and smile and giggle and and I witnessed that."
Charles and Camilla are seen on their 2005 wedding day.
Harrold worked as a butler at Highgrove House in Gloucestershire, England.
When asked who the most relatable royal was when he worked for the family, Harrold shares that it was Queen Camilla. "The reason I say Camilla is because she wasn't born into that world,” he explains. "So William and Harry and The [late] Queen, they're all relatable, but they were born into a very different world than you and I are used to—I mean, it's castles and palaces and butlers."
Like The King has Highgrove, Queen Camilla still keeps her own country retreat, Ray Mill House, and Harrold says, "I’ll give you an example, you go to her house at Ray Mill, who do you think makes you the cup of tea? She makes you the cup of tea. Not one of her butlers. If you want a sandwich, who’s going to pop to Tesco? This was back then, but she’d pop to Tesco."
He continues that Camilla has stepped up despite all of the public intrusion into her life—and has done it all for The King.
"I feel really sorry for her, because she absolutely loves the guy, and she’s given up all her freedom and privacy, because she’s in love,” he says, adding, “I can promise you, she did not sign up thinking, ‘Oh I know what, I might become The Queen. That’s the last thing she’d ever want. But she’s done it, and she’s done a really good job of it."
