A former royal butler has lifted the lid on how the King’s promise to his late mother would have impacted the drastic decision to strip Andrew of his royal titles
A former royal butler has shared how King Charles would’ve felt conflicted over stripping his younger brother Andrew of his royal titles – due a promise he would’ve made to the late Queen Elizabeth before she died.
On Thursday night, Buckingham Palace released a statement announcing that Andrew would be losing his title of Prince, and would simply be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor from now on. In addition to the title change, Andrew would be vacating Royal Lodge, relocatING to a private residence on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, while his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson will have to find her own accommodation.
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Now, one of King Charles’ former butlers Grant Harrold – who worked at Highgrove for seven years – has lifted the lid on how the monarch would be feeling after making such a historic decision on his own brother.
Harrold believes that while Charles had to take action against Andrew to protect the Firm, he would be feeling conflicted over a promise he may have made to his late mother, Queen Elizabeth, before she passed away in 2022.
Grant told the Mirror : “I think there will be a real mix of emotions for King Charles. He probably feels like he’s letting his mother down, but he realises he has a duty. The King is now having to do what his late mother did, and put the Crown before family.
“It’s not something the modern Royal Family really does, but in this instance it’s what he had to do. I think King Charles would have made a promise to his mother, the late Queen, to protect Andrew. She would have wanted to ensure her son wasn’t left in the cold after she left. I think this is probably why King Charles will still be funding Andrew.
“I imagine today is a very difficult day for the King, I expect he will want to be left alone to have his thoughts on what’s happening.”
Grant went on to say that much discussion about the decision to strip Andrew’s titles would’ve taken place behind the scenes, although it is likely Charles wanted his brother to hear the shocking news from him.
He said: “I’m sure the King would have had a conversation with his brother as well, but I think the initial conversations would have happened through their staff. It would likely have been the King’s private secretary who made that call.
“But they would have spoken before the announcement was made, Andrew would have wanted to hear it straight from his brother and not just from their staff.”
With rumours, scandals and allegations plaguing Andrew for years, Grant Harrold believes that the decision from Charles and the Palace was long overdue, as Andrew’s continued indiscretions distract and overshadow the hard work of the royal family.
“The Royal Family and their advisors shouldn’t have left it this long,” he told the Mirror. “They should have done this way back. They should have taken measures to protect the family. It was like they were trying to brush it under the carpet, but this isn’t going to go away. They even put a statement out saying they wanted to focus on the good things, but you can’t just ignore it.”
