Grant Harrold

Grant William Veitch Harrold (born 26 April 1978) is a British former butler to King Charles III (when he was Prince of Wales), now a British etiquette expert, and broadcaster.

Grant Harrold
Born	Grant William Veitch Harrold (1978-04-26) 26 April 1978 (age 46) Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK
Nationality	British
Other names	The Royal Butler
Occupation(s)	Butler, etiquette expert
Known for	Former butler to King Charles III, Queen Camilla, William, Prince of Wales and Prince Harry

Career

He worked as a butler for Charles III from 2004 to 2011, when King Charles was Prince of Wales. Grant has also explained in recent interviews he also looked after William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales during his time at Highgrove.^[1][2][3] His first employers were Urs Schwarzenbach and Major Christopher Hanbury on the Ben Alder estate, where he began working in private service in 1997.^[4]

Based in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, Harrold now runs an etiquette and butler school. He also gives talks and demonstrations on afternoon tea etiquette, dinner parties etiquette and similar etiquette events. In 2014, Harrold's company Nicholas Veitch Limited alongside Blenheim Palace founded The Royal School of Butlers.

Media

Harrold first appeared regularly as the butler on the reality television programme Country House at Woburn Abbey between 2000 and 2003 whilst working for Robin Russell, 14th Duke of Bedford and his son Andrew Russell, 15th Duke of Bedford, and then in 2012 was part of the BBC Three series Be Your Own Boss.^[5]

Controversy

In 2020, Harrold applied to register "The Royal Butler" as trademark for his business; however, the trademark was denied. Harrold had claimed that he had won the right to the trademark as part of a settlement when he left Royal service.^[3]

In 2021, he was criticised by Asian communities for suggesting that people should never eat rice with their hands, a practice common in many Asian countries.^[6]

References

1. "'I was a butler for the Royal Family - I danced with the Queen and loved spending time with Prince William and Kate Middleton'". MyLondon. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
2. "An Interview with Grant Harrold, Former Butler to Prince Charles". 24 March 2013.
3. MacDonald, Stuart (4 September 2020). "Queen stops former butler Grant Harrold from exploiting royal title". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 4 March 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
4. "Nicholas Veitch Limited". Archived from the original on 16 February 2013. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
5. "Grant Harrold". Nicholas Veitch Limited. Archived from the original on 16 February 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
6. "Ex-royal butler's rice-eating comments spark online backlash". South China Morning Post. 10 March 2021. Archived from the original on 6 September 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2021.