Category Entertainment News

King Charles’ former butler has lifted the lid on what goes on behind closed Palace doors, unveiling his first impressions on a young Kate Middleton and sharing the brutal truth about William and Harry’s rift

Effortlessly beautiful, her natural elegance matched only by her obvious intelligence, Kate Middleton was just 22, but royal butler Grant Harold knew she was a “queen in waiting.”

One of King Charles ’ trusted butlers for seven years – spent mainly at Highgrove – he is uniquely placed to reveal what really goes on behind the palace gates.

He tells The Mirror : “That girl was a Queen in waiting in every aspect. She is the perfect Queen material and you can so obviously see that. Everything about her – the way she carried herself, the way she spoke, the way she interacted with people, her kindness, her beauty – she was, if I can say, the modern day Princess Diana.”

READ MORE: King Charles and Queen Camilla searching for jobseeker with eye for ‘complex’ issuesREAD MORE: Prince Harry’s secret royal move speak volumes after ‘peace talks’ with top aides

In his new book The Royal Butler: My Remarkable Life of Royal Service , Grant – who worked with the royals between 2004 and 2011 – mainly as a butler for King Charles, but occasionally seconded to work for Queen Elizabeth – first met Kate during the early years of her romance with Prince William.

Comparing her humour to that of Princess Di, he continues: “Diana used to do things at Sandringham to make the staff laugh by poking her head out the window and pulling faces, and Kate was doing the same kind of thing. She is everything you can imagine, she is a beautiful and intelligent woman.”

Grant, a Scot, had wanted to work for the royal family ever since a childhood dream, in which he was dancing with Queen Elizabeth and spent most of his time with them in Highgrove, the stunning Gloucestershire palace that King Charles shared with William and Harry.

Contrasting his reception from Kate and William, who he says “took a while” to trust him, he recalls how Prince Harry greeted him for the first time with a water balloon fight.

Recalling how tight knit the princes were back then, he says: “William and Harry were so close, as brothers go. With many siblings, you can be close as children and then maybe drift a bit as you grow up in your late teens and early 20s, but William and Harry were the opposite.

“I don’t know if it’s because of their mother’s death, but they were inseparable. They were hanging out together, going to pubs together, just having fun together.

“If I had been told all those years ago that they were going to fall out, I would’ve bet £100 that it would never happen. Even when the rumours (of a rift) first started, I was saying publicly to the press that they would never fall out, that’s how sure I was.

“And when all the conflict really started, I was asking myself ‘Why has this all gone so badly wrong?’ I couldn‘t wrap my head around it. Now they’re not even speaking to each other, and they used to speak all the time. It’s really sad.”

Grant also believes that any reconciliation between the princes may happen away from the spotlight. He says: “I think families fall out and families can heal, but it’s never the same. So yes I can see a reconciliation, I can see Harry coming back, but not in the Firm as it used to be.

“I don’t see Harry and Meghan ever on the Palace balcony for Trooping the Colour for example, but I can see the family patching things up behind closed doors and working towards the King seeing his grandchildren [Archie and Lilibet]. I think that’s what they’re trying to work towards. I think they could be thinking ‘Let’s just be a family behind closed doors and move on from this rift from our point of view, not from the public’s point of view’.”

Despite hoping for a reunion between the Sussexes and the wider Windsor family, Grant went on to say that “things are such a mess right now”, and admitted: “I think we have to accept that there is a real possibility that we may never see them as a united family in public.”

But he reveals King Charles to be an exceptionally compassionate man and believes he may be the orchestrator of any reconciliation in the future, saying: “The thing that surprised me was how genuine and nice he was.”

He recalls how he would be in the middle of serving dinner, saying: “I would hear ‘Oh and how are you today?’ and I’d ignored him (King Charles) because I thought he was talking to the guests.

“Then he’d say my name and ask me again, and then he’d start saying ‘How’s your mum? How’s your papa? How’s your brother? How’s your home?’

“If I was having something done, he’d always know and remember what was going on. He’d say ‘Did that thing get done in your house?’ His kindness and compassion would catch me off guard every single time.”

Certain that Harry will have kept up some kind of communication with his father, in light of his illness, Grant continues: “Charles is a very compassionate man. So, even if William – as the big brother – is angry at what Harry has done and maybe has more reservations about meeting up with Harry, I think the King, at this point in his life, will be thinking ‘Let’s look at the bigger picture. Life’s too short, and family is all you’ve got’.”

He also believes Harry will want to heal the rift with the king. He says: “I think Harry does want to reunite with his father, because at the end of the day, Harry is aware that his father has not been a very well man, because they were very close and that doesn’t always change.”

Clearly a big fan of the King, Grant recalls a touching moment when he introduced him to the late Queen at a banquet at Kew palace.

Laughing, he says: “I’ll never forget, I was so focused on the job, and so overwhelmed and excited to be on her service and I was thinking, ‘Don’t do anything wrong, Grant. Don’t put down the wrong plate, don’t drop the sauce, don’t overfill the glass,’ all these things.

“I remember going over to offer the Queen the vegetables and suddenly Charles looks around at the Queen and over to me and says ‘Oh Mummy this is Grant, my newest butler’. And I’m thinking ‘Oh god not now, not over the vegetables!’”

In light of the news that William and Kate, along with their three children George, Charlotte and Louis, are set to relocate to Forest Lodge on the Windsor estate, from their current home Adelaide Cottage, Grant shares his thoughts on the fate of Buckingham Palace.

“When it comes to William, he is used to smaller houses like Highgrove, because he didn’t grow up in the huge palaces or castles,” says Grant. “So I think there’ll be a transition where Windsor becomes the hub of the monarchy.

“As Forest Lodge is on the Windsor estate, that whole area will become the royal HQ. And then Buckingham Palace could just be open year round as a tourist hotspot, while also operating as the royal office, because it is such a landmark of the royal institution.

“So, I think Windsor will become the embodiment of the Firm as William and Kate move into their forever home. Living in Forest Lodge will be a lot cheaper than living in Buckingham Palace. Also, William has long championed homelessness causes, and it’s a bit hard to support the homeless when you’re living in your massive castle, so I think he’s aware of that.

Grant Harrold’s book The Royal Butler: My Remarkable Life of Royal Service is available from August 28th.

Comedian and singer-songwriter Tim Minchin opens up about his family, the loss of his beloved mum Ros to blood cancer, and why he never reads his own reviews

It’s been 20 years since Australian comedian Tim Minchin first registered on British radars with his award-winning Edinburgh show Darkside, a mix of comedy songs, political jokes and poignant, witty reflections on his own life, all played barefoot at his piano.

Since then the Northampton-born musician has written and starred in the Netflix drama Upright, released six albums of his work and created the critically acclaimed musical Matilda – inspired by the Roald Dahl book – which, in 2025, celebrates 15 years of West End success.

It has won seven Olivier awards and four Tonys and is about to start a second UK and Ireland tour with a new cast.

Now about to turn 50, and having re-recorded an album of his old songs, Tim is in a reflective mood. While he is tired after finishing a 33-gig UK tour this summer, he feels happier than ever getting to do what he loves.

But the last two years have had challenges. Tim lost his mum Ros in 2023 after a three-year battle with blood cancer. He performed in Sydney hours after she died, having spent as much time with her as he could in her final months.

“I’m a deeply pragmatic person, I’m quite emotionally intelligent and I’m a reasonable observer of both my own and other people’s emotions, so your mum dies, and that’s like one of the rules,” he says.

“If you’re lucky, she goes before you. If she dies at 74 like mine, we’re lucky to have had her that long.

“But sometimes I feel like she’s missing all of this, as she would have loved to see her grandkids getting older. “

He laughingly describes his children, Violet and Caspar as “pretty different and cats, my kids”. The teenagers, who he shares with childhood sweetheart Sarah, feature in some of his songs – Lullaby, which he wrote when Violet was a sleep-dodging baby, carries the immortal line, ‘When is rocking rocking, and when is it shaking?’

“We really struggled with her. She liked being rocked, but it was like, ‘is this alright? I’m throwing this kid around,'” he laughs.

Family is so important to Tim, who lives with wife Sarah in Sydney when he’s not travelling. His dad David came to the UK for Tim’s recent tour and the Minchins have a novel way of keeping in touch: by reporting their daily exercise to each other.

“Although Dad’s been grieving, he’s also been like, well, I don’t have long, I’d better travel,” says Tim. “We’re very close, my family, my three siblings and me. We are all talking, all the time.”

When he’s not writing new lyrics or recording – his new album TimMinchinTimeMachine is a look back at 20 years’ worth of his favourite songs – Tim stays off social media and 24-hour news.

“I was on Twitter in the early days, and I think once some troll said something, and I slapped them down,” he recalls. “And all my fans piled on this person and I just went, ‘I will never do that again’.

“I can’t believe that in 2025, people still set their dogs on each other. After Trump and Brexit happened, I got out of Twitter, I just went, ‘this is horrible, toxic’. Now I’m off everything. I had to go cold turkey, I was completely addicted.”

In his free time, Tim reads books and checks the news every three days or so to keep away from the dreaded doomscrolling. “It’s this perpetual humankind panic, as if none of this stuff’s ever happened before. I can’t be happy and have all that stuff [in my head]. Now I’m trying to teach my kids the same thing,” he says.

The same mentality extends to his critics – he refuses to read reviews of shows, knowing a single criticism would make him spiral.

“I’m just too fragile. And I’m not ashamed of that – you have to be, to do what I do. You have to be open-hearted,” he says.

“I have confidence in my work now. A long time ago I thought, ‘who do I listen to? I’m not like anyone else.’ [Anything I read about myself ] is in my head the next day when I go on stage. And that’s just no good to me, because to do what I do requires a massive leap, almost like a suspension of disbelief.

“The person that I am when I walk on stage is a person completely confident, to have up to 7,000 people hanging on my every word,” he says. “And that is not who I always feel like. Sometimes it feels impossible.”

Comedian and singer-songwriter Tim Minchin opens up about his family, the loss of his beloved mum Ros to blood cancer, and why he never reads his own reviews

It’s been 20 years since Australian comedian Tim Minchin first registered on British radars with his award-winning Edinburgh show Darkside, a mix of comedy songs, political jokes and poignant, witty reflections on his own life, all played barefoot at his piano.

Since then the Northampton-born musician has written and starred in the Netflix drama Upright, released six albums of his work and created the critically acclaimed musical Matilda – inspired by the Roald Dahl book – which, in 2025, celebrates 15 years of West End success.

It has won seven Olivier awards and four Tonys and is about to start a second UK and Ireland tour with a new cast.

Now about to turn 50, and having re-recorded an album of his old songs, Tim is in a reflective mood. While he is tired after finishing a 33-gig UK tour this summer, he feels happier than ever getting to do what he loves.

But the last two years have had challenges. Tim lost his mum Ros in 2023 after a three-year battle with blood cancer. He performed in Sydney hours after she died, having spent as much time with her as he could in her final months.

“I’m a deeply pragmatic person, I’m quite emotionally intelligent and I’m a reasonable observer of both my own and other people’s emotions, so your mum dies, and that’s like one of the rules,” he says.

“If you’re lucky, she goes before you. If she dies at 74 like mine, we’re lucky to have had her that long.

“But sometimes I feel like she’s missing all of this, as she would have loved to see her grandkids getting older. “

He laughingly describes his children, Violet and Caspar as “pretty different and cats, my kids”. The teenagers, who he shares with childhood sweetheart Sarah, feature in some of his songs – Lullaby, which he wrote when Violet was a sleep-dodging baby, carries the immortal line, ‘When is rocking rocking, and when is it shaking?’

“We really struggled with her. She liked being rocked, but it was like, ‘is this alright? I’m throwing this kid around,'” he laughs.

Family is so important to Tim, who lives with wife Sarah in Sydney when he’s not travelling. His dad David came to the UK for Tim’s recent tour and the Minchins have a novel way of keeping in touch: by reporting their daily exercise to each other.

“Although Dad’s been grieving, he’s also been like, well, I don’t have long, I’d better travel,” says Tim. “We’re very close, my family, my three siblings and me. We are all talking, all the time.”

When he’s not writing new lyrics or recording – his new album TimMinchinTimeMachine is a look back at 20 years’ worth of his favourite songs – Tim stays off social media and 24-hour news.

“I was on Twitter in the early days, and I think once some troll said something, and I slapped them down,” he recalls. “And all my fans piled on this person and I just went, ‘I will never do that again’.

“I can’t believe that in 2025, people still set their dogs on each other. After Trump and Brexit happened, I got out of Twitter, I just went, ‘this is horrible, toxic’. Now I’m off everything. I had to go cold turkey, I was completely addicted.”

In his free time, Tim reads books and checks the news every three days or so to keep away from the dreaded doomscrolling. “It’s this perpetual humankind panic, as if none of this stuff’s ever happened before. I can’t be happy and have all that stuff [in my head]. Now I’m trying to teach my kids the same thing,” he says.

The same mentality extends to his critics – he refuses to read reviews of shows, knowing a single criticism would make him spiral.

“I’m just too fragile. And I’m not ashamed of that – you have to be, to do what I do. You have to be open-hearted,” he says.

“I have confidence in my work now. A long time ago I thought, ‘who do I listen to? I’m not like anyone else.’ [Anything I read about myself ] is in my head the next day when I go on stage. And that’s just no good to me, because to do what I do requires a massive leap, almost like a suspension of disbelief.

“The person that I am when I walk on stage is a person completely confident, to have up to 7,000 people hanging on my every word,” he says. “And that is not who I always feel like. Sometimes it feels impossible.”

Actor Millie Bobby Brown and her husband Jake Bongiovi have announced that they have become parents. The couple shared in a message on social media tonight that they adopted a “sweet baby girl” together earlier this year.

Millie, 21, best known for her role as Eleven on Stranger Things, and model Jake, 23, said in a statement that they are “beyond excited” for this next chapter of their lives. They teased in their joint post that they are now a family of three.

Alongside a sketch of a tree, they wrote: “This summer, we welcomed our sweet baby girl through adoption. We are beyond excited to embark on this beautiful next chapter of parenthood in both peace and privacy.”

The post, which was accompanied by the Beatles’ Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, continued by reading: “And then there were 3.” It was then signed off by Millie and her husband Jake, who shared his surname at the end of the message to fans.

Millie and Jake shared the statement on their respective Instagram accounts earlier this evening. The joint post had already amassed more than 250,000 likes on the platform within 30 minutes of it being uploaded by the couple.

The news comes after Millie and Jake, who is the son of Jon Bon Jovi, got married last year following their engagement in 2023. They confirmed that they had tied the knot in separate posts on the platform in October following speculation.

Alongside photos from their wedding, Jake wrote in a post at the time: “Forever and always, your husband.” Whilst Millie wrote, beside a series of photos from the nuptials, in the caption of her post: “Forever and always, your wife.”

Millie previously spoke about wanting to become a parent whilst on the SmartLess podcast in an episode released in March. She said teased that she wants a “big family” with her husband and mentioned the possibility of adopting.

She said: “Jake knows how important it is to me [to have a child].” Millie went on to discuss balancing that ambition with her career, but explained that it’s a “huge thing” for her to start a family.

Millie said on the podcast: “Of course, I want to focus on really establishing myself as an actor and as a producer, but I also find it’s so important to start a family, for me, personally.” Millie then commented: “Like, it’s a huge thing.”

She added: “Jake was like ‘We cannot do that until we get married.’ So that was his thing and my thing was I really want a family. I really want a big family. Like, I’m one of four. He’s one of four. So it is definitely in our future.”

Millie went on to mention the prospect of adopting. She said whilst a guest on the podcast earlier this year: “But, for me, like I don’t see having your own child as really any different as adopting.”

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

Actor Millie Bobby Brown and her husband Jake Bongiovi have announced that they have become parents. The couple shared in a message on social media tonight that they adopted a “sweet baby girl” together earlier this year.

Millie, 21, best known for her role as Eleven on Stranger Things, and model Jake, 23, said in a statement that they are “beyond excited” for this next chapter of their lives. They teased in their joint post that they are now a family of three.

Alongside a sketch of a tree, they wrote: “This summer, we welcomed our sweet baby girl through adoption. We are beyond excited to embark on this beautiful next chapter of parenthood in both peace and privacy.”

The post, which was accompanied by the Beatles’ Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, continued by reading: “And then there were 3.” It was then signed off by Millie and her husband Jake, who shared his surname at the end of the message to fans.

Millie and Jake shared the statement on their respective Instagram accounts earlier this evening. The joint post had already amassed more than 250,000 likes on the platform within 30 minutes of it being uploaded by the couple.

The news comes after Millie and Jake, who is the son of Jon Bon Jovi, got married last year following their engagement in 2023. They confirmed that they had tied the knot in separate posts on the platform in October following speculation.

Alongside photos from their wedding, Jake wrote in a post at the time: “Forever and always, your husband.” Whilst Millie wrote, beside a series of photos from the nuptials, in the caption of her post: “Forever and always, your wife.”

Millie previously spoke about wanting to become a parent whilst on the SmartLess podcast in an episode released in March. She said teased that she wants a “big family” with her husband and mentioned the possibility of adopting.

She said: “Jake knows how important it is to me [to have a child].” Millie went on to discuss balancing that ambition with her career, but explained that it’s a “huge thing” for her to start a family.

Millie said on the podcast: “Of course, I want to focus on really establishing myself as an actor and as a producer, but I also find it’s so important to start a family, for me, personally.” Millie then commented: “Like, it’s a huge thing.”

She added: “Jake was like ‘We cannot do that until we get married.’ So that was his thing and my thing was I really want a family. I really want a big family. Like, I’m one of four. He’s one of four. So it is definitely in our future.”

Millie went on to mention the prospect of adopting. She said whilst a guest on the podcast earlier this year: “But, for me, like I don’t see having your own child as really any different as adopting.”

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

Strictly Come Dancing star Kristian Nairn has quit the BBC show just a week into training – as sources now reveal to us why he decided to leave the programme

Kristian Nairn’s real reason for quitting Strictly Come Dancing has been revealed after it was announced today that the actor and DJ had quit due to “unexpected medical reasons”.

The Game of Thrones actor and DJ was confirmed today to not be taking on the Latin and ballroom competition for an undisclosed health complaint. Kristian will be replaced by another celebrity, due to be announced later today.

He said in a statement: “With a heavy heart, I have to step back from this season of Strictly Come Dancing due to unexpected medical reasons. I was truly looking forward to the journey, and I’m deeply sorry to disappoint anyone who was looking forward to seeing me on the dance floor. Thank you all for your support, and I will be back on my feet very soon, in every sense. Love to all, Kristian.”

Sarah James, Executive Producer, BBC Studios, added in a statement: “We’ve absolutely loved getting to know Kristian in this short time, and he has all the makings of a brilliant Strictly Come Dancing contestant. We’re incredibly sorry to lose him from this year’s series and we all wish him a speedy recovery.”

Now, a source has revealed to The Mirror just why Kristian had quit the competition so early into training. A BBC source told us: “Kristian sadly just wasn’t up to competing on Strictly and so he had to pull out.

“The celebrities have not been paired up yet but he had a couple sessions doing the group number and they were a real shock to the system. I think by his own admission he found them a struggle and may have been surprised how much of a challenge it was physically for him. He wasn’t feeling great and the best option for everyone was for him to leave the show at this stage. It has been a bit of a scramble but we have got a replacement.”

When he was announced for the show, Kristian said he was excited for the physical challenge. He said: This will be a huge challenge for me physically, but I’m ready to rise to it! It’s a surreal and wonderful opportunity to shed one of my left feet!”

The new celebrity joining Strictly Come Dancing will be announced on Thursday’s (21.08.25) episode of The One Show. Strictly will return in just a few weeks time – with the celebrities and their professional dance partners being announced in a special launch show.