Prince William and Prince Harry "Were the Best of Friends" in the 2000s Despite Current Rift, Royal Butler Says (Exclusive)

“Never did I hear them have an argument.”

The Gist

• Though brothers Prince William and Prince Harry are now estranged—and have been for years—when royal butler Grant Harrold served the royal household from 1997 to 2011, the brothers “were the best of friends,” he says.
• Harrold says he never heard the sons of King Charles and Princess Diana get into an argument, and that makes their current rift even more “sad.”
• “They were a team throughout all the years I was there,” Harrold says of the brothers.

These days, the relationship between brothers Prince William and Prince Harry seems to be at an all-time low, with the two currently not on speaking terms and with no end in sight to their rift.

However, it wasn’t always this way, royal butler Grant Harrold tells InStyle exclusively ahead of the September 23 release of his book The Royal Butler: My Remarkable Life in Royal Service. “Their relationship was two of the best pals,” he says.

Of their current estrangement, “It’s sad, because they were the best of friends,” says Harrold, who worked for the royal household—specifically at Prince Charles’s country home Highgrove—from September 1, 1997 (the day after Princess Diana’s death in a Paris car accident) until May 17, 2011, just weeks after William married Kate Middleton. “Harry would be the little puppy dog around with his brother. And they’d go out together, they would see friends together, they would go on dates together, they would go to clubs together, they would host parties at Highgrove together. They’d go to the local pub together. They were a team throughout all the years I was there.”

“Never did I hear them have an argument,” he adds.

While Harrold admits that he wasn’t around all the time, “I was never aware of that.” He calls the time of his service the golden years “because everyone was healthy, everyone was well, everyone was happy, everyone got on,” Harrold says. Now, he says, “It’s a mess. Which, again, is why—from a selfish point of view—I’m so glad I was out of it. I was so glad I was gone, because I think if I had been there when all this was going on, oh my God, I think it would literally depress me. And I couldn’t take sides.”

“I know people get annoyed at me saying that, but I liked them,” he continues. “So it’s a mess.”

The royal family he knew “was peaceful,” he says. When he first met Harry, the royal threw a water balloon at him; William and Harry would engage in water fights at Highgrove.

“It was really cool, because you’re behind the wall, the palace doors, whatever you want to call it, and you get to know them,” Harrold says. “You really get to know them. You get to know the likes, the dislikes, things that make them happy, the things that make them laugh, what makes them tick, know the days it’s not good for them, everything. And they trust you with that.”

“It is a fairytale,” Harrold continues. “It is, for me—being a bit over the top, maybe. But it was a fairytale. It was an amazing time to be there. And it’s not like it now.”

From dancing with Queen Elizabeth to serving a romantic Valentine’s Day meal to William and Kate Middleton to working for the former Prince Charles, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, and Harry, “I feel so lucky in all the things I’ve gotten to do,” Harrold says, adding, “Dreams do come true.”