Royal family in crisis
“It’s quite a nightmare behind closed doors”
Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince William, King Charles and Queen Camilla
© JANE BARLOW/POOL/AFP / Getty Images
King Charles currently has to lead his family through one of the most serious crises – and at the same time take care of his own health. A complicated balancing act, ex-butler Grant Harrold is sure.
The Royal Family is worried about two of its most important members: After King Charles, 75, announced at the beginning of the year that he would have to undergo cancer treatment, Catherine, Princess of Wales, 42, made her diagnosis public on Friday, March 22, 2024 and explained that he had started “preventive chemotherapy.”
Ex-butler suspects chaos behind the scenes
The fact that Charles and Catherine, two absolute “key figures” in the British royal family, will now be out for several months is a “nightmare” for the crown, says ex-butler Grant Harrold, who worked for the king for seven years when he was still who was Prince of Wales. “I can imagine that it’s quite a nightmare for the actual company behind closed doors,” Harrold told the New York Post.
“Of course the King is trying to get better, that will be the main focus. I think Charles will find it very frustrating that he can no longer work as much, I can imagine that – I know what he is like, he is a workaholic. I’m sure it will be frustrating,” adds the former royal family employee, emphasizing that the monarchy is currently only operating at 50 percent capacity. “Even with all the other royals there, it’s not the same,” he continues.
King Charles is ‘frustrated that recovery is taking a little longer’
Charles’ nephew Peter Phillips, 46, also recently said in an interview with Sky News Australia that King Charles was very frustrated. “He is frustrated that he can’t do everything he would like to do,” explained Princess Anne’s son, 73, but also emphasized: “But he is very pragmatic [und] he understands that there is a time when he really needs to focus on himself. He keeps pushing his staff and all the doctors and nurses to say, ‘Can I really do this? Can I do that?’ So the main message is that he’s obviously desperate to get back to some sort of normality. And he’s probably frustrated that recovery is taking a little longer than he might like.”
Sources used: nypost.com, Sky News Australia