Grant Harrold

Grant Harrold
Born	Grant Harrold (1978-04-26) 26 April 1978 Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK
Nationality	British
Other names	The Royal Butler
Occupation	Butler, Etiquette expert
Known for	Former Royal butler to Prince Charles, The Duchess of Cornwall and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry

Grant William Veitch Harrold (born 1978 in Airdrie, Scotland) is a butler, etiquette expert and broadcaster. He worked as an under-butler for HRH Prince Charles from 2004 to 2011,^[1] and had earlier worked for both the 14th and 15th Duke of Bedford His first employers were Urs Schwarzenbach and Major Christopher Hanbury on the Ben Alder estate, where he began working in private service in 1997.^[2]

Based in Gloucestershire, Harrold now runs an etiquette and household consultancy company, Nicholas Veitch Limited.^[3][4] He also gives talks and demonstrations on afternoon tea etiquette, dinner parties etiquette and similar etiquette events. In 2014 Grant was appointed to the position of Personal aide to HRH Princess Katarina of Yugoslavia and Serbia.. In 2014 Harrold's company Nicholas Veitch Limited alongside Blenheim Palace founded the butler school, The Royal School of Butlers.^[5] HRH Princess Katarina of Yugoslavia is the Royal patron of the School.

Television and Radio

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.^[3] In 2013, Grant featured with Ruth Watson in Ruth Watson Means Business! in which he helped Watson improve Fawsley Hall in Northampton. Grant also featured in the television series You Can't Get The Staff for Channel 4 in 2014. In 2016, Grant appeared with Michael Portillo for Great Railway Journeys.

Grant launched his own "The Royal Butler Guide" YouTube channel in 2016.^[6]

Harrold appeared in an episode of ITVBe show The Real Housewives of Cheshire to teach Ester Dee, Tanya Bardsley and Nermina Pieters British Royal Tea Etiquette.

Law suit

In 2012, Harrold sued the British royal family for unfair dismissal after Harrold allegedly refused to move from the Prince of Wales's country residence, Highgrove House to Clarence House in London.

Eventually he was diagnosed with phobic anxiety depersonalisation syndrome, said to give him panic attacks if he was in a big city, like London, for any length of time. Legal papers revealed in the court case revealed that one member of the British Royal Household deemed Harrold “too dangerous” to work with the Prince and banned him from direct contact with the royal family.^[7]

References