Featured Image Credit: Dominic Lipinski - WPA Pool/Getty Images
Topics: Royal Family, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, King Charles III
Lucy Devine
Topics: Royal Family, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, King Charles III
A former royal butler has claimed that one senior member of the royal family made an explicit comment about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding just moments after leaving the church.
Grant Harrold worked as a butler in Highgrove between 2004 and 2011 and spent many years around Prince William and Prince Harry as well as King Charles and the now-Queen, Camilla.
As he releases his new memoir, The Royal Butler, Harrold has opened up about some of the events he witnessed during his time with the family.
It seems that Harrold thoroughly enjoyed his time working for the now-King, revealing that he always found Charles to have 'a very gentle character'.
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"Very calm. He works hard and he doesn’t suffer fools. He gets on with everyone. He does get perceived as out of touch and he’s not," he told The Telegraph.
Harrold left after seven years with the family when he was made redundant, and has since gone on to speak on cruise ships and provide etiquette lessons.
In 2018, when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tied the knot, Harrold reported live as a pundit and watched the wedding from the lawn in front of St George's Chapel.
As they left the chapel, following the infamous 14-minute sermon by Bishop Michael Curry, the late Prince Philip allegedly made an explicit comment to the Queen.
Harrold wrote: “When Prince Philip came out he turned to the Queen and said, ‘Thank f**k that’s over.’”
Prince Philip passed away on 9 April 2021, following a 28-day stint in hospital.
His funeral was held on 17 April 2021, with only 30 loved ones due to the rules associated with the Covid-19 pandemic at the time.
It was the second time that Harrold had been at a royal wedding, after attending Charles and Camilla's nuptials in 2005.
In an excerpt from his memoir, which he says isn't a tell-all, Harrold wrote: “About a month before the wedding, Robert the house manager told me there was a phone call for me in the staff room. The call was from Simon, who was effectively master of the household, one of the big bosses.
“He began by asking how I was enjoying things and whether everything was going well? Then he said, ‘I’ll tell you why I am phoning. I have been asked to call you on behalf of the Prince of Wales and Mrs Parker Bowles. You are aware of the criteria you are not meeting - that you have to be with the royal household for a year to be invited to their wedding’.
“‘I completely understand,’ I said.
“‘Well, I am happy to tell you that the Prince of Wales and Mrs Parker Bowles are allowed to invite friends and family to the wedding and, as such, they would like you to go to the wedding, so they are going to invite you under 'friends and family'. You will be getting an invitation and you will be going to the wedding’.”
Tyla has reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment.