Former Royal Butler Reveals the Hilarious Issue He Often Experienced When Guests Arrived at Balmoral Castle
Grant Harrold says a visit to the Scottish estate is "quite full on and regimented."
Ever since Prince Albert bought the Balmoral estate in 1852, it’s been a cherished retreat for members of the Royal Family. The 50,000-acre estate includes multiple private residences as well as Balmoral Castle, and is the traditional summer home of the British royals. King Charles and Queen Camilla invite family, friends and politicians to Balmoral every year, and former royal butler Grant Harrold is sharing what it’s really like behind the scenes at the Scottish retreat.
Speaking on behalf of Heart Bingo, Harrold—who served King Charles and Queen Camilla at Highgrove House for nearly a decade—says visiting Balmoral is “lovely but it’s quite full on and regimented.” Guests receive “a full information pack” before their arrival, and members of staff will take their bags away (and unpack them) once they get to the property.
Apparently, this part of the trip is what Harrold and other staff members sometimes struggled with when welcoming new guests. “The only issue we ran into was guests not knowing where their clothes were!” he reveals. “So we’d leave drawers slightly open and wardrobes ajar so they could spot their things. We’d unzip toiletries too, but never unpack them. We’d just leave them sitting by the wash basin.”
The King (then Prince Charles) and his dog Harvey are pictured at Balmoral Castle in 1978.
Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, Princess Anne, Prince Charles and a baby Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor pose in front of Balmoral Castle in 1960.
Describing the guest rooms at the castle, Harrold says they’re “more like an exclusive hotel” and are “private, elegant and a little grand with Victorian furniture.” Visitors and royals alike have often shared that they were overwhelmed with the rules at Balmoral, and Harrold admitted that “you can't really say no to anything.”
“Guests know what they’re doing at all times,” he said, explaining that a schedule is given that tells visitors where to be and when. However, the activities are planned with guests in mind.
“The Prime Minister would normally go up for a long weekend, but it will be the same treatment as any other visitors,” Harrold shares. “He'll be given an idea what to do and he'll get the itinerary. The itineraries are tailored to accommodate each guest. If he likes fishing, maybe they go fishing. If he likes walking, they'll go walking. He’ll also have meetings with the King and they can use the time to catch up.”
Once upon a time, guests would even expect to see a bit of royal dish washing. The late Queen’s former press secretary, Dickie Arbiter recalled a visit to Balmoral when he got to work cleaning up after a picnic with Her Majesty.
“No sooner had I started than I heard footsteps and, thinking it was the lady-in-waiting coming to give me a hand, I casually said over my shoulder, 'okay, I’ll wash you dry,' but it was not the lady-in-waiting,” he wrote in Woman & Home. “The Queen washed up and I dried, and no, she did not wear rubber gloves to protect her hands.”
Former Prime Minister David Cameron told a similar story to author Gyles Brandreth, who included the tidbit in his biography Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait. “I'm not making this up, you sat down and Prince Philip and Her Majesty The Queen served your dinner and cleared it away and washed it up while you sat talking with the other guests,” Cameron told the author .
