Kate Middleton wasn’t like other members of the firm, former royal butler claims

Kate Middleton ‘made jokes with members of the royal household’ when she first began dating Prince William, claims King Charles’ former butler who says the Prince and Princess of Wales were ‘just like any other couple’

  • Former royal butler said the Princess of Wales would ‘tell jokes with staff’ 
  • The Mirror  reported that Grant Harrold liked Kate, as she was ‘fun and friendly’
  • He was butler to King Charles III for seven years when he was younger

The Princess of Wales ‘wasn’t like other members of the royal family’ a former butler has claimed.  

Grant Harrold, 44, who worked for King Charles III for seven years, said that Kate Middleton would ‘joke and chat with staff members of the royal household’. 

The Mirror reported he said: ‘What I liked was that Kate, being a girlfriend and obviously not a member of the family, would be with me and the other staff and she was so polite, friendly, and fun and making jokes.’ 

The Princess of Wales (pictured with her husband at the Olympic Park during a royal visit last week) ‘wasn’t like other members of the royal family’ according to former royal butler Grant Harrold

Grant Harrold said university sweethearts Kate and William (pictured at St Andrews in 2011) were just like any other boyfriend and girlfriend

Grant Harrold said university sweethearts Kate and William (pictured at St Andrews in 2011) were just like any other boyfriend and girlfriend 

The butler, who prior to his position within the royal estate was a firm fan of the royals – and even once wrote to the Queen – witnessed many intimate moments within the family up close. 

Grant was part of the household when William and Kate were a young couple, and had just left St Andrews University, where they met aged 19. During this time, he said the pair were just like any other couple.

He also was in attendance for the late Queen and Prince Phillip’s 60th wedding anniversary back in 2007. 

After the Queen’s passing last month Grant spoke to Australian radio hosts Ryan ‘Fitzy’ Fitzgerald and Michael ‘Wippa’ Wipfli on Nova 96.9 on Friday as the world mourned the passing of the monarch.

Grant Harrold, 44, worked as King Charles's butler for seven years and witnessed many intimate moments between members of the royal family

Grant Harrold, 44, worked as King Charles’s butler for seven years and witnessed many intimate moments between members of the royal family

Mr Harrold, who is originally from Airdrie, Scotland, worked at Highgrove between 2005 and 2011, said he was ‘in shock’ as he opened up about the ‘other side’ of Her Majesty – who he affectionately dubbed ‘Mrs Windsor’.

He explained that when he was young he asked his father about how to dance with the Queen after watching a documentary about the royal family.

‘He said “you either marry into the family or you work for them. And I quite seriously thought “who could I marry?”.

‘And realised that that obviously maybe wasn’t a clever move. But then I wrote to the Queen, I wrote two letters to her. I even sent a picture so she knew what I look like and basically said one day I will come to work for you.

‘And obviously didn’t quite happen like that because I went to be a butler for her son.’

Eleven years to the day after watching the documentary, Mr Harrold found himself in the ballroom at Balmoral with the then Duchess of Cornwall.

‘We were dancing, and the Duchess said, “oh, Grant, you look quite nervous. You look quite scared”.

‘And I said “that’s because of this dream that I had when I was young. I said I think I’m going to dance with the Queen tonight” and she said, “there’s 150 people in this room. It’s highly unlikely the Queen would dance with you”.

‘At which point we finished dancing, the Duchess could have made this sound as if I stood on her feet.

‘And I looked down and I hadn’t. I turned around and saw the queen.

‘She put her hands up to dance and, and then we’re into Rio.’.

The royal butler added it was an ‘amazing’ experience.