Overview

• Grant Harrold is promoting The Royal Butler, out Sept. 23, drawing on his service in royal households from 2004 to 2011.
• He recalls pre-rift socializing that included pub nights near Tetbury with Prince William, Prince Harry, Kate Middleton and Chelsy Davy, saying such scenes “don’t happen now.”
• Harrold describes a quiet Highgrove dinner after William and Kate’s 2007 split that convinced staff they would marry, and he likens their partnership to the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.
• Coverage revisits reports that Harry texted Kate after daughter Lilibet’s 2021 birth, cited as an example of her role as a bridge between the brothers.
• He says the younger royals embrace a more informal etiquette in public, from handshakes to hugs and the occasional fist bump, marking a shift from past formality.