What really goes on behind closed doors with the Royal Family?
A former royal butler has shared some of his conversations with King Charles which were had in the run up to him becoming the monarch. Grant Harrold was employed as a butler for the now King at Highgrove House, where he worked for him for seven years.
He has shared many fond memories of his time working with the then-Prince of Wales, and has called the job ‘an absolute dream come true’. Grant speaks highly of the king, saying the 76-year-old is ‘very gentle’ and said he ‘didn’t once raise his voice’ over his time working there.
However, before he was crowned King on May 6, 2023, Grant recalls a sad response from Charles when he was asked about the future plans for him to take over the role and for his coronation.
Grant told the Telegraph that Charles had said: “When that job comes, you lose a parent.”
Prince Phillip died on April 9, 2021, and Queen Elizabeth II, his cherished mother, died on September 8, 2022. They were the longest-married royal pair, having been together for an astounding 73 years.
King Charles had been ‘anxious’ before his coronation, the BBC said.
He recounted the night before his mother’s coronation when he was only four years old in an interview for the documentary Coronation Girls: “I remember it all so well then, because I remember my sister and I had bath time in the evening.”
“My mother would practice wearing the crown by coming up during bath time.
“You have to get used to how heavy [the crown] is, I’ve never forgotten, I can still remember it vividly,” he recalled.
“It is very important to wear it for a certain amount of time, because you get used to it then,” he said, addressing his anxiety over the weight of the crown.
“But the big one that you’re crowned with, the St Edward’s Crown, it weighs 5lbs.”
Before deciding on King Charles III, Grant also remembered a discussion he had with Charles over the title he would accept.
Since his grandfather, George VI, had also selected a different title for his accession, there had been conjecture before to the coronation that he might have chosen George VII instead. For ‘continuity’ reasons, George VI adopted the name even though his real name was Albert Frederick Arthur George.
Being baptized as Alexandrina Victoria, Queen Victoria was the first to choose a different royal name.
According to Harrold, a lot of people believed the name might be changed in honor of his grandfather.
He remembered: “I remember asking him what he would be, and he said to me, ‘I could be Charles, but I could also be George VII’, which is quite nice because his grandfather was George VI.”
Grant also acknowledged that the naming choice was unexpected: “We thought he would most likely be George VII. So when they revealed that he was Charles III, I was taken aback.
