Ex-royal butler says 2005 Camilla wedding era warmth, not animosity

A former royal butler, Grant Harrold, challenges widely circulated impressions of Prince Harry’s estrangement from the royal family, saying there was “no animosity” among Prince Harry, Prince William, and their father, King Charles, around the time Camilla Parker Bowles married Charles in 2005. In advance excerpts from his forthcoming memoir, Harrold portrays a close-knit dynamic within the royal circle at Highgrove and describes public moments—such as the brothers’ lighthearted departure after the wedding—as evidence of a much warmer reality than some memoirs suggest.

Harrold, who served as a butler to the future king for seven years, recounts that William and Harry were “inseparable” during those years and that their public displays of affection for their father were consistent with a family who were fond of one another. He recalls the scene after the 2005 wedding when the four of them were seen waving goodbye as Camilla and Charles departed for Balmoral, noting that William and Harry decorated their car with “Just Married” signs and dashed after the newlyweds with evident cheer. Harrold insists that what he witnessed contradicted Harry’s recollection in his memoir Spare, in...