Former royal butler shares his honest opinion of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor

A former butler for the British Royal Family has shared his opinion of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor after working around him for seven years.

Grant Harrold worked for Charles III as a butler between 2004 to 2011, when he was still the Prince of Wales, as well as working for Queen Camilla, Prince William, Princess Catherine, and Prince Harry.

In 2025, he published a memoir based on his royal career called The Royal Butler: My remarkable life of royal service, and he also works as an etiquette coach and in training butlers, becoming known on social media as ‘The Royal Butler’.

Now, Harrold has opened up about his honest opinion of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who was stripped of his ‘prince’ title due to his association with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Harrold stressed that he had not had many dealings with Andrew, but told LADBible Stories: “You got the feeling he thought he was better than everyone, just his mannerisms and the way he was.”

He added: “And what was weird for me was no other member of the family did you get that vibe from, not from the Queen, not from Prince Phillip, not from his brother Charles, not from Anne, none of them.

“But with him he had this, I can’t even explain it, I just didn’t want to be in his presence. Luckily I didn’t have to do much for him.”

Harrold explained that he was not the only person to feel this way about Andrew either, adding: “Also, from colleagues in the Royal Household, none of them ever have a nice thing to say about him.”

He added: “Put it this way, he wasn’t one of the most popular royals.”

Harrold said that he personally didn’t believe that King Charles III is close to his brother.

“This is my personal view, I don’t ever remember them being that close, I really don’t,” said Harrold.

Harrold is far from the only former member of the Royal Household to share a less-than-favourable account of Andrew, who was arrested on his birthday on suspicion of misconduct in public office, becoming the first senior royal to be arrested since Charles I.

After his arrest, Andrew was held in custody for several hours before being released pending further investigation.

Andrew was arrested on his birthday on suspicion of misconduct in public office (MEGA/GC Images)

Speaking to 60 Minutes Australia in 2022, former royal protection officer Paul Page recalled that while Andrew’s official security callsign was ‘Purple 41’, there was also a coarse nickname for him among protection officers.

“He did have a nickname, but it’s a bit rude to tell you,” the officer told the host, warning: “You wouldn’t be able to air it.”

Page said: “Andrew was known as the c***. Plain and simple, because unfortunately, he upset everyone he came across.

“He was the most unpopular member of the royal family while I was there. He was just rude and arrogant, and his sense of self-entitlement was breathtaking.”