Former royal butler Grant Harrold is offering new insight into Prince Harry’s relationship with his sister-in-law, Princess Kate Middleton.
“They involved him,” Harrold, 47, wrote in his upcoming book The Royal Butler: My Remarkable Life of Royal Service, according to an excerpt published by The Telegraph on Monday, August 18. “He used to go out with Kate. William would be away, and Kate and Harry would be off doing stuff together.”
Per Harrold, the Duke of Sussex would “go shopping” and “go to pubs” with Kate, now 43.
“I think when people say, ‘Oh he was left out,’ he really wasn’t,” Harrold added. “But also, he was with Chelsy [Davy, the Prince’s former girlfriend]. Chelsy was always around. And Chelsy and Kate got on really well.”
Prince Harry and Princess Kate's Relationship Through the Years
Harrold worked for King Charles III for seven years, which he recounts in the memoir.
During his time working alongside the royal family, the former butler said Prince William and Harry, 40, were “so close,” which is quite a contrast from the current state of their estranged relationship.
“The banter was great,” Harrold recalled. “They used to go around being silly with each other and winding each other up, jumping out at their dad from corners and making him laugh. It was just like a family.”
Harry and William, 43, are no longer as close as they used to be. Rumors that the brothers had a falling out started to swirl in 2020, after Harry and wife Meghan Markle parted ways with the royal family and relocated to California.
When Harry released his 2023 memoir Spare, the Duke of Sussex claimed that he and William had a physical altercation in 2019 — and that their relationship was never the same.
The alleged altercation came after William referred to Meghan, 44, as “difficult” and “rude.” Harry claimed in the book that William “grabbed” him by the collar and “knocked me to the floor.”
Inside Prince William and Prince Harry’s Ups and Downs Over the Years
Harry has spoken candidly about the drama within his family in various interviews over the years. His most recent public comment came this past May, during an interview with the BBC in which Harry claimed that his father Charles “won’t speak to me” before sharing his hope for a possible reconciliation in the future.
Rumors about mending the rift between Harry and Charles have been swirling for months — but things with William appear to stay the same.
“I think that Harry’s relationship with his brother is a different beast than his relationship with his father,” royal expert Kristen Meinzer exclusively told Us Weekly earlier this month. “But perhaps if Charles warms more to Harry, William will feel compelled to follow his lead.”
The Royal Butler: My Remarkable Life of Royal Service is set to be released next month.