{"id":355120,"date":"2025-08-18T21:25:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T21:25:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/355120\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T21:25:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T21:25:19","slug":"former-royal-butler-contradicts-prince-harrys-claims-that-he-and-prince-william-didnt-like-camilla-before-her-marriage-to-king-charles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/355120\/","title":{"rendered":"Former royal butler contradicts Prince Harry&#8217;s claims that he and Prince William didn&#8217;t like Camilla before her marriage to King Charles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A\ufeff butler who worked at Clarence House under then-Prince Charles has appeared to contradict claims made by <a href=\"https:\/\/honey.nine.com.au\/prince-harry\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Prince Harry\">Prince Harry<\/a> about his relationship with his stepmother, <a href=\"https:\/\/honey.nine.com.au\/queen-camilla\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Queen Camilla\">Queen Camilla<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Since <a href=\"https:\/\/honey.nine.com.au\/royals\/prince-harry-meghan-markle-five-years-since-becoming-private-citizens-after-royal-exit-opinion\/27ab96c1-ac02-4ef5-b0b4-381d1c2316ad\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"leaving the royal family as a senior working royal\">leaving the royal family as a senior working royal<\/a> in 2020, the Duke of Sussex has been vocal about his relatives via interviews and his memoir, Spare.<\/p>\n<p>In the book, which was <a href=\"https:\/\/honey.nine.com.au\/royals\/prince-harry-book-spare-difficult-to-read-but-offers-unprecedented-look-at-life-in-british-royal-family-opinion\/6160536c-0c27-4f6a-8e9a-fb260f940fe7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"published in January 2023\">published in January 2023<\/a>, Harry said he and brother <a href=\"https:\/\/honey.nine.com.au\/prince-william\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Prince William\">Prince William<\/a> urged their father not to marry the then-Duchess of Cornwall.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/honey.nine.com.au\/royals\/prosecutors-indict-marius-borg-hoiby-son-of-norways-crown-princess-on-multiple-counts-including-rape\/eed2f24f-0324-41a5-975f-10414450c0f5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Son of Norway&#039;s Crown Princess facing 10 years in jail\ufeff\"><strong>Son of Norway&#8217;s Crown Princess facing 10 years in jail\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/f5c1b0c4-2279-4f14-ac24-306c5e1ae886.jpeg\" \/>Then-Prince Charles with Prince William and Prince Harry, in happier times, in 2005. (Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>He alleged that Camilla leaked stories about the royal family to improve her image and &#8220;sacrificed&#8221; him &#8220;on her personal PR altar&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>In Spare Harry wrote: &#8220;We support you, we said. We endorse Camilla, we said. &#8216;Just please don&#8217;t marry her. Just be together, Pa.&#8217; He didn&#8217;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&#8217;s blessing, we presumed).&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/58adb4b8-85e9-4dee-b47d-a3dd1953c4a1.jpeg\" \/>Prince Harry was overly critical of the then-Duchess of Cornwall, now Queen Camilla, in his memoir. (Daniel Berehulak\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>In an interview to promote his memoir, Harry went on to describe Camilla as &#8220;dangerous&#8221; and a &#8220;villain&#8221; who left &#8220;bodies in the street&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>However, former royal butler Grant Harrold paints a very different picture about that time in his own book about working for the royal household.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:\ufeff<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/honey.nine.com.au\/royals\/prince-william-and-kate-news-move-to-forest-lodge-forces-two-families-out-of-neighbouring-homes\/1fdde12f-51c9-42c4-9732-2addb4a0c63a\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Families forced out ahead of Will and Kate&#039;s move\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Families forced out ahead of Will and Kate&#8217;s move<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>His memoir titled The Royal Butler is an account of the seven years he spent at Highgrove \u2013 King Charles&#8217; private home \u2013 from 2004 to 2011.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/34a29334-c17d-41a3-893e-8849dbdc289d.jpeg\"  alt=\"Traditions banned from Prince Charles and Camilla's wedding\"\/>Then-Prince Charles married Camilla in April, 2005. (AAP)<\/p>\n<p>Writing about the day <a href=\"https:\/\/honey.nine.com.au\/royals\/prince-charles-camilla-duchess-cornwall-wedding-day-photos\/b5a77d03-88c5-4669-9edd-0f4a234cabae\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Charles and Camilla married in April, 2005\">Charles and Camilla married in April, 2005<\/a>, he described the happy scenes as the newlyweds prepared to travel from Windsor to their country home, Birkhall, in Scotland.<\/p>\n<p>Harrold wrote: \ufeff&#8221;We all went outside to wave them off and laughed as we saw William and Harry had decorated their car with &#8216;Just Married&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As they drove off through the arches to cheers, the boys raced after the car.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/honey.nine.com.au\/2025\/01\/07\/15\/23\/british-royal-family-pictures-photos-2025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/df812020-859c-46d2-a0ee-79c2b4af03b9.png\"  alt=\"\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>All the defining photos of the British royal family in 2025<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The four of them, I promise you, got on so well,&#8221; Harrold told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/royal-family\/2025\/08\/18\/royal-butler-grant-harrold-charles-william-harry\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"The Telegraph\">The Telegraph<\/a> UK, of that period in the lives of Charles, Camilla and the two princes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And that&#8217;s why I don&#8217;t understand what Harry&#8217;s said, I really don&#8217;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.&#8221;\ufeff<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/honey.nine.com.au\/royals\/princess-diana-dianaworld-book-interview-prince-william-prince-harry-battle-for-dianas-legacy\/231735a7-1ddd-4d9e-98ac-f75e90dfd220\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"William, Harry&#039;s new battle to &#039;uphold Diana&#039;s true legacy&#039;\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>William, Harry&#8217;s new battle to &#8216;uphold Diana&#8217;s true legacy&#8217;<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Harrold also wrote about Prince Harry&#8217;s close relationship with his sister-in-law, Catherine, describing the two as being close and again, contradicting the account given by Harry.<\/p>\n<p>In Spare, Prince Harry was critical of the now-Princess of Wales, <a href=\"https:\/\/honey.nine.com.au\/royals\/prince-harry-meghan-markle-prince-william-kate-middleton-fab-four-relationship-breakdown-how-it-happened-spare\/3b46820d-c8b8-4ec1-8b4f-48d6af23c48f\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"portraying her as cold\">portraying her as cold<\/a> and \ufeffclaimed she did not go out of her way to make his now-wife, Meghan, feel welcome when joining the royal family.<\/p>\n<p>Harry also wrote at length about Prince William, describing the tension that had grown between them since childhood. Harry suggested he often felt left out once William met Kate.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/7fca4ab0-5bd8-424e-8162-6b1aafadd112.jpeg\" \/>Prince William and Kate, with Prince Harry, at a joint engagement promoting mental health in 2017. (UK Press via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>Harrold wrote: &#8220;They involved him. He used to go out with Kate. William would be away and Kate and Harry would be off doing stuff together. They&#8217;d go shopping together, they&#8217;d go to pubs together.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think when people say &#8216;oh he was left out&#8217;, he really wasn&#8217;t. But also he was with Chelsy [Davy, the Prince&#8217;s former girlfriend]. Chelsy was always around. And Chelsy and Kate got on really well.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere in the book, Harrold described watching the <a href=\"https:\/\/honey.nine.com.au\/royals\/royal-wedding-2018-prince-harry-and-meghan-markle-best-moments\/aec1786a-e21a-4713-846d-4cce8b72c68e\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan\">wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan<\/a> from the lawn in front of St George&#8217;s Chapel\ufeff.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Once all the formalities were over, we watched as the happy couple, and then the other members of the royal family, filed out of the chapel,&#8221; he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When Prince Philip came out he turned to the Queen and said, &#8216;Thank f&#8212; that&#8217;s over.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/entertainment\/latest\/ninecomau-whats-app-signup\/421c4156-5b58-42a0-9c4e-e65401b4e271\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE<\/strong><\/a><strong>: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A\ufeff butler who worked at Clarence House under then-Prince Charles has appeared to contradict claims made by Prince&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355121,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7708],"tags":[5105,7710,519,448],"class_list":{"0":"post-355120","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-royals","8":"tag-royal","9":"tag-royal-families","10":"tag-royal-family","11":"tag-royals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115051883773497237","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}