When Grant Harrold, King Charles’s former butler, imagined meeting Queen Elizabeth II for the first time, he pictured a moment of grandeur in the gilded halls of Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle. A lifelong admirer of the monarchy, he expected a scene steeped in pomp and tradition.
Speaking at an event to promote his new book The Royal Butler: My Remarkable Life of Royal Service, Harrold admitted that his first meeting couldn't have been further from what he imagined. “When I imagined I was going to meet her it would be in there [Buckingham Palace] or a palace or a castle,” Harrold recalled.
“I didn’t realise it would be at Kew Palace.”
The meeting took place during a royal engagement at Kew, the historic palace set within the Royal Botanic Gardens in London.
The Queen was present at the formal dinner alongside her husband, the late Prince Philip. They were joined by Prince William, Princess Kate and other senior members of the Royal Family, including the now-King.
Harrold, still relatively new in his role within Charles’s household, was on duty for the dinner service. He had not yet been formally introduced to the monarch. But duty, as it often does in royal households, brought the unexpected.
“During the actual service of the meal we had gone in, and I walked up to the Queen to offer her the vegetables,” he recalled.
“Prince William was on one side with King Charles on the other, Queen Elizabeth was in the middle. King Charles at the time said, ‘Ah Grant, Mummy this is Grant, one of my new butlers.’ And she looked at me and went, ‘Oh.’”
The exchange was far from the grand introduction Harrold had envisioned. Instead, it happened mid-service, with serving spoons in hand.
“I am thinking not over the vegetables,” he laughed. “I waited for this moment my whole life, and it is over the vegetables. It is not in the throne room or nothing. This is a disaster.”
Despite the unorthodox setting, the Queen’s warmth shone through immediately. Known for her ability to put people at ease, she struck up casual conversation as though the circumstances were the most natural in the world.
“She started asking me if I was enjoying it, how long I had been there, and obviously what she was having,” Harrold said. “It was just not what I imagined. It was great and quite surreal.”
For Harrold, one detail has always stood out: it was the Prince of Wales himself who chose to bridge the gap. “It was quite surreal that he introduced me to his mother,” he reflected.
In royal circles, introductions to senior members of the family are usually made through courtiers or senior household staff. For Charles to handle the moment personally was unusual and deeply memorable.
