Grant Harrold, who served as King Charles’ butler at Highgrove in the early 2000s, has disputed Prince Harry’s claims about tensions with Queen Camilla. In a new interview with The Telegraph to promote his upcoming book, Harrold described the months leading up to Charles and Camilla’s 2005 wedding as warm and lighthearted.
He recalled seeing Harry and Prince William decorate their father’s car with “Just Married” signs after the ceremony, even chasing it playfully as the couple departed. “The four of them, I promise you, got on so well,” Harrold said, adding that he witnessed shared dinners, parties and laughter among Charles, Camilla, and his two sons. “There was no animosity. The King used to do things to make them laugh and giggle.”
Harry’s conflicting memories in Spare
Harrold’s version of events stands in stark contrast to Prince Harry’s 2023 memoir Spare. In the book, Harry describes the years after Princess Diana’s death as deeply painful, particularly with the arrival of Camilla as what he termed “the other woman.”
He claimed that both he and William pleaded with their father not to marry her, believing she had long been engaged in a campaign to secure the Crown. Harry further accused his stepmother of leaking stories to the press to bolster her public image, writing that he felt “sacrificed on her personal PR altar.”
Acknowledging both sides
Yet Harry also offered moments of concession in his account, noting that he and William assured their father they would accept Camilla and that they supported his happiness. At one point he even wrote, “I wanted Camilla to be happy. Maybe she’d be less dangerous if she was happy?”
The contrasting narratives — Harrold’s recollections of camaraderie and Harry’s memoir of suspicion and hurt — underscore just how differently those years have been remembered within the royal circle.
