King Charles’s former butler has shared Princess Anne’s witty reaction to his unfortunate case of mistaken identity over the phone.
In an exclusive chat with Reach PLC on behalf of Spin Genie, Grant Harrold described the Princess Royal as “a very down-to-earth, normal person”.
He was particularly fond of this trait after a mix-up during a phone conversation, where he didn’t realise he was speaking to Anne herself. Reflecting on the mishap, the ex-Royal butler recalled: “Anne has always been known for being quick-witted and fun.”
“Usually, Buckingham Palace would ring up and connect a member of the Royal family to speak to the prince [now King Charles].
“What I mean by that is we would talk to the switchboard, and then they would connect the person.
“On one occasion, a voice said ‘Princess Anne’, and I thought, ‘Yes, Princess Anne, that’s fine. I can handle her,’ and then the voice said, ‘This is Princess Anne’.
“Luckily, I think she found it quite funny, but I also called her ‘Sir’! She gave a little chuckle, probably at the fact I was so nervous and tongue-tied.”
Grant, who worked closely with Charles from 2004 to 2011, and also looked after Prince William and Kate Middleton at Highgrove, disclosed that Princess Anne’s personality is exactly the same as it appears in public.
He stated: “She’s exactly what you see in public, there’s not really a different side to her. Obviously, everyone likes her, she’s very much like her mother and her father with very similar traits to both of them.
“She’s a hard worker, and is a very down-to-earth, normal person – she didn’t even want her children to have Royal titles.
“She drives herself from A-B and goes out and about on her own.
“She’s as modern a Royal as you can get, and behind closed doors she’s just like everyone else. She’s a real family person and loves her animals.”
Princess Anne’s daughter Zara Tindall previously shared her gratitude for her mother’s decision on Seven: Rob Burrow, The Total Sport Podcast.
She said: “From my point of view, I was obviously very lucky that my mother didn’t give us any titles so I really commend her on that. We were very lucky that we got to do it a bit our own way.”