King Charles’s former butler has revealed the monarch’s “amazing sense of humour” after he played a practical joke on him on his first day in the role. Grant Harrold was a member of the royal household of King Charles and Camilla, Queen Consort. He butlered for the couple, as well as the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex during his time. Speaking about his first day, Grant recalled a “practical joke” that was played on him by staff at the Palace.
Grant recallede hosting a royal etiquette class on Wednesday afternoon: “He [King Charles] also has an amazing sense of humour. Not long after I started in August of 2005 I went up to Castle of Mey. It was one of the Queen Mother’s homes. The King took it over and once a year he goes up there. I loved the fact I was working for a royal, sleeping and living in a castle.
“The first night, we’re in a staff room and the staff are all telling me ghost stories so I go with it. The housekeeper was telling me about this grey lady and headless horseman. I go to my room up a spiral staircase and I remember being terrified. I felt like they were going to play a practical joke on me as a sort of initiation.
“I put the light on and looked in the room and couldn’t see anything. I looked under the bed, looked behind the curtain, and in the room was an old tower. I opened the door and there was nothing.
“I turned around and behind the door, is a six foot mannequin of a man in royal uniform. I screamed. I couldn’t physically stop screaming.”
The Queen was known for her sense of humour, which it seems Charles has now inherited.
Speaking about Camilla, he said: “As soon as she got the giggles, he would get the giggles and it was dangerous. You would have to plan an exit because you would just end up laughing.
“I’ve been to one event where she got the giggles, he got the giggles, the people at the event got the giggles and then everyone just ended up laughing. Thankfully, humour is very much part of their lives.
“He has a very good sense of humour which is nice and hopefully it will be passed onto the younger ones.”
