Royal butler says Prince Harry’s ‘Spare’ memories don’t match his own

King Charles III’s former butler, who served the monarch for seven years, said he was surprised by Prince Harry’s claims in “Spare.”

Grant Harrold has written a memoir, “The Royal Butler: My Remarkable Life in Royal Service,” where he details his time working with and befriending King Charles and Queen Camilla. The etiquette expert told Digital he was stunned when he first read Harry’s 2023 memoir, where the Duke of Sussex described his struggles with royal life.

“I’ve openly talked about this because … his memories and mine are very different,” said Harrold. “You think we [were] in two different households because I talked about this happy family … with his stepmother and everything. He’s saying he didn’t. I never witnessed that.”

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“I saw some magazine [clippings] the other day … from the king’s wedding,” said Harrold. “When you look at these pictures of Harry around his stepmother, both leaving Windsor and chasing after the cars, that’s not somebody who’s unhappy. If he was really that unhappy, I know people who wouldn’t even go to weddings or wouldn’t even get involved because they’re unhappy. And I was there the night before. There was a dinner for [Prince] William, Harry and the king. … it was a lovely occasion … There were no issues.”

A spokesperson for Archewell, which handles the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, previously told Digital they would not be commenting on Harrold’s book.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle step out on Sept. 20, 2025. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended the One805LIVE! 2025 concert benefiting first responders. (Scott Dudelson/Getty Images for ABA)

In “Spare,” Harry describes in detail his sibling rivalry with his brother William, heir to the British throne, and the death of their mother. In the opening chapter, Harry wrote that his father, then Prince Charles, broke the news of his mother’s accident but didn’t hug his son. He also wrote that he and William both “begged” their father not to marry Camilla, worried she would become a “wicked stepmother.”

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Harrold stressed he never witnessed any unhappiness from Harry during his time as a working royal. The Duke of Sussex and his wife stepped back as senior royals in 2020 and moved to California. The couple cited the unbearable intrusions of the British press and a lack of support from the palace as their reasons for leaving.

It’s unknown if the father of two simply kept his private thoughts about his royal life to himself until now, Harrold noted.

A person at home in Edinburgh watching the Duke of Sussex being interviewed by ITV’s Tom Bradby during “Harry: The Interview,” two days before “Spare” was published on Jan. 8, 2023. (Jane Barlow/PA Images via Getty Images)

“With mental health, you sometimes have no idea someone is unhappy about anything,” said Harrold. “He could have been pretending. … I’m not saying he’s not [sincere], but all I know is there was no evidence of him being unhappy at all or suffering from any kind of mental health issues. But it’s a silent thing, so it’s possible. But nobody knew.”

Grant Harrold’s memoir, “The Royal Butler: My Remarkable Life in Royal Service,” is out now. (Pegasus Books)

“My memories are definitely very different from his,” said Harrold. “It’s almost as if it were a different household, but it wasn’t. That was his household, it was his home. And it’s where I spent a lot of time as well.” 

“It’s interesting because the queen said, ‘recollections may vary,’” Harrold continued. 

Two days after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s interview with Oprah Winfrey aired in 2021, Buckingham Palace said in a statement on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II that the family was “saddened” to hear of their challenges and they “will always be much loved family members.” The late queen also noted that “some recollections may vary.” (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

“She talked about that toward the end of her life about the situation. And it’s true. My memories and Harry’s are obviously very different. It’s up to people to read my book and make their own minds about it. But I think … if they read what I’ve put, look at press clippings or any TV footage from back in the day, they can then make their minds up. And I think it’ll be quite obvious that something, as I keep saying, doesn’t add up.”

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Prince Harry’s memoir, “Spare,” was published in January 2023. The Duke of Sussex previously said he had enough material for two memoirs, but that he held back because he didn’t think his father and brother would “ever forgive” him. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

In televised interviews before the publication of “Spare,” Harry accused Camilla of leaking private conversations to the media to improve her reputation, The Associated Press reported. He said members of the royal family got “into bed with the devil” to gain favorable tabloid coverage. He singled out Camilla’s efforts to rehabilitate her image after her longtime affair with his father.

“That made her dangerous because of the connections that she was forging within the British press,” Harry, 41, told CBS. “There was open willingness on both sides to trade information. And with a family built on hierarchy, and with her on the way to being queen consort, there was gonna be people or bodies left in the street.”

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, seen here during Trooping the Colour on June 8, 2019, stepped back as senior royals in 2020 and moved to California. (Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)

Buckingham Palace never publicly responded to Harry’s book.

King Charles and Queen Camilla married on April 9, 2005, in the U.K. Their children are seen here from left: Prince Harry, Prince William, Laura Parker Bowles and Tom Parker Bowles. (Anwar Hussein Collection/ROTA/WireImage/Getty Images)

Harrold worked in the king’s household from 2004 to 2011. He was invited to Charles and Camilla’s wedding in 2005 as a guest.

“At the end of the festivities, Charles and Camilla were catching a flight to head straight to Birkhall,” he recalled in his book. “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, followed by the media.”

Prince William (right) looks over to his brother Prince Harry (left) as he salutes his father Prince Charles and his new bride Camilla on April 9, 2005, in the U.K.  (Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)

Harrold described Charles as a “fantastic father,” a doting parent who looked after his sons after they lost their mother, Princess Diana, in a tragic accident. The late Princess of Wales died in 1997 from injuries in a Paris car crash. The princes were 15 and 12 years old at the time.

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King Charles and Prince Harry are seen here attending the “Our Planet” global premiere at the Natural History Museum on April 04, 2019, in London, England. (Samir Hussein/Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images)

“A lot of people assume that he wasn’t hands-on, or he wasn’t around,” Harrold explained to Digital. 

“Yes, his duties were very different, especially after the divorce, to what Princess Diana was doing. But equally, they both made time for the boys. They both were hands-on, they both did things in their own way. Diana might have taken them to a water park, for example, but the king would [also] take them up to Balmoral to do a bit of shooting or fishing in the countryside, which they loved.”

King Charles and Prince Harry laugh during the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games at the Queen Elizabeth Park on Sept. 10, 2014, in east London, England. (Luke MacGregor/WPA Pool/Getty Images)

“Both parents brought something very different to the table, but the boys liked that,” said Harrold. “I think their characters have been shaped by both parents and grandparents. I was talking about Harry the other day, and someone said, ‘He comes across as being quite stubborn.’ I said, ‘Well, you could say that’s from his grandfather, Prince Philip… because his grandfather was quite stubborn. His mother stood her ground. You could argue that side as well. But this is what’s great about them.”

King Charles is seen here with his sons at the Balmoral Castle estate in Scotland, date unknown.  (Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)

“William’s got a bit of shyness and a bit of quietness, which comes from his mother and, to a degree, from his father,” Harrold continued. 

“But when I was there, I did witness a father who was hands-on. He was very funny with them. He was very sweet with them. And he definitely tried to fill a gap, 100 percent. He was trying to fill that space their mother’s death had left. He was definitely trying, not to replace her, but to fill that space.”

King Charles is seen here speaking with his sons after attending the Sovereign’s Parade at the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst, southern England on April 12, 2006. (Carl de Souza/AFP via Getty Images)

Harrold said he remains grateful for his experience working at the palace and for witnessing another side of the royals.

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Queen Camilla and King Charles III pose for a photo at the state banquet at Windsor Castle on Sept. 17, 2025 in Windsor, England.  (Phil Noble/Pool/Getty Images)

“I suppose the thing that surprised me was probably … how normal he is,” said Harrold, referring to the king, 76. 

“Like everybody else … you see them, you read stuff, and you hear stuff. And we all make up our minds about what those people are like. And they always say, don’t meet your idols because it’s not what you imagine. But luckily for me, meeting this family that I followed throughout my childhood and teenage years, it was exactly what I hoped they would be.”