Butler lands in the soup as Palace wages battle royal

WHEN the Queen banned Prince Harry and Meghan from using the term ‘royal’ after they quit official duties, the couple posted an extraordinary statement on their website insisting they still had the right to the word.

Now, however, Buckingham Palace has made clear that it means business. I can disclose that courtiers are taking highly unusual action to stop a long- serving butler using the epithet ‘royal’.

Grant Harrold, 42, who worked for Prince Charles, styles himself as the ‘royal butler’ and even set up a ‘Royal School of Butlers’ and a ‘Royal School of Etiquette’.

However, the Palace has now formally objected to his use of the term. ‘It’s a real David and Goliath battle,’ one of Harrold’s friends tells me.

‘Why on earth shouldn’t he call himself the royal butler? That’s what he was. What are the Palace going to do next? Ban pubs from calling themselves the Royal Oak or stop Reading FC calling themselves “the Royals”?’

However, a royal source tells me that action was necessary. ‘It’s important the Royal Household protects its brand,’ he says. ‘We could hardly tell the Duke of Sussex he couldn’t use the term “royal” but allow a former

FIELD Marshal Montgomery’s insistence on a full English breakfast wherever he went is said to have inspired ‘the full Monty’ expression. But his granddaughter Arabella Montgomery could be left feeling short-changed by the will of her father. I can reveal that the 2nd Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, who died in January aged 91, stipulated that his son, Henry, should receive twice the amount inherited by Arabella. That’s an awfully big difference as his estate totalled more than £6.3 million. staff member to do so. The Household was prepared to let him style himself “the royal butler”, but what happened is he tried to trademark the term. That was a step too far.’

The Lord Chamberlain’s office at Buckingham Palace formally lodged an objection at the Intellectual Property Office, using the Queen’s lawyers, Farrer & Co. A video hearing is due to be held this month.

Harrold tells me has been advised not to comment. He has become a regular on television advising on questions of etiquette since leaving the Royal Household in 2011 after seven years. As well as working for Prince Charles, he served members of the Royal Family from the Queen to the Duchess of Cambridge.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman declines to comment.