Royal butler offers very different account of what happened inside Highgrove following Prince Harry’s claims
A new story told by one of King Charles III's former royal butlers has been found to completely contradict an account given by Prince Harry regarding the status of his relationship with his stepmother, Queen Camilla.
In an interview with The Telegraph this week to discuss his new book, Grant Harrold - who worked for Charles at Highgrove - recalled the months prior to the King's second marriage in 2005.
When first hired in 2004, Harrold says Camilla would often visit the Gloucestershire estate, despite she and Charles not being betrothed.
Also around this time - by the butler's account - William had been studying at St Andrews university, and dating a Berkshire girl named Kate - who we now all know and love as the Princess of Wales.
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Harry, at this point, was young and unruly, and looking for someone to entertain him.
In his memoir Spare, Harry has since claimed that these years were particularly painful for he and his brother following the death of their mum, Princess Diana - especially with regards to tensions between themselves and Camilla.
What does Harrold recall about Harry and William's relationship with Camilla?
Despite this, Harrold says that his experience with the royal foursome had been nothing but amicable.
Recalling Charles and Camilla's wedding, he writes in his new upcoming biography: "At the end of the festivities, [they] were catching a flight to head straight to Birkhall [on the Balmoral estate].
"We all went outside to wave them off and laughed as we saw William and Harry had decorated their car with ‘Just Married’. As they drove off through the arches to cheers, the boys raced after the car."
During his interview, Harrold goes on to claim he witnessed the King, his wife and his two sons forming a close bond.
"The four of them, I promise you, got on so well," he explained. "And that’s why I don’t understand what Harry’s said, I really don’t understand. Because I saw them. I saw them having dinners together, I saw them having drinks together, I saw them going to parties together."
Adding that there was 'no animosity' on display between them, Harrold continued: "The King used to do things to make them laugh and giggle."
However, the butler's claims directly contradict a number of recollections retained in Harry's 2023 memoir.
What did Prince Harry write about Camilla?
The bad:
Amongst the handful of high-profile members of the monarchy 'exposed' in Harry's autobiography is his stepmother.
Firstly, he discussed the period during which he and brother William realised that Camilla was to become a permanent fixture in their lives, describing her as having been 'the other woman'.
So much so, that Harry claims the pair pleaded with their father not to wed her.
"Willy and I promised Pa that we’d welcome Camilla into the family," he penned. "The only thing we asked in return was that he not marry her. 'You don’t need to remarry,' we pleaded. He didn’t answer. But she answered. Straight away.
"Shortly after our private summits with her, she began to play the long game, a campaign aimed at marriage and eventually the Crown (with Pa’s blessing, we presumed)."
In Spare, Harry also accuses his stepmother of having leaked stories about his family to the tabloid media in a bid to improve her image.
"I had complex feelings about gaining a step-parent who I thought had recently sacrificed me on her personal PR altar," he writes.
The good:
Quotes evidenced so far aren't to say that Harry refused to give Camilla any credit in his book.
He states often that he understood his father's love for Camilla - even if this did serve as a threat to his late mother's legacy.
"We approved of Camilla," the Prince writes at one point. "We support Pa. We said that. We meant it. It was true."
At another, Harry rather backhandedly claims to wanting Camilla to find peace with the public, adding: "I even wanted Camilla to be happy. Maybe she’d be less dangerous if she was happy?"
Topics: Prince Harry, Royal Family, UK News, Queen Camilla, King Charles III, Prince William
Rhianna Benson