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Queen WINS legal battle to stop Prince Charles’ ex employee from trademarking the name ‘The Royal Butler’ for his etiquette training business
- Grant Harrold had wanted to call his etiquette training firm ‘The Royal Butler’
- But Queen’s lawyers took action after learning of his trademark attempt
- Mr Harrold, who worked for Prince Charles, has lost case and has to pay £2,500
The Queen has won a legal battle to stop Prince Charles’s former butler from trademarking the name The Royal Butler for his etiquette training firm.
Lawyers acting on behalf of the monarch took action against Grant Harrold after he tried to launch the business using the title.
Mr Harrold, originally from Airdrie, Lanarkshire, worked for Prince Charles between 2005 and 2011 and is now a regular guest on popular TV shows This Morning and Good Morning Britain where he hands out advice.
He applied to register the trademark ‘The Royal Butler’ and claimed he had been given permission to use it by senior members of the Royal Household as part of a settlement agreement when he left his job.
But the Lord Chamberlain, acting on behalf of the Queen, filed an opposition to the application.
The monarch’s legal team argued Mr Harrold was misleading the public into believing he still has a job working for the Royal Household and had their permission to use the name.
They insisted no consent was given by the monarch or the Cabinet Office – the only two authorities that can give someone or a business permission to use the term Royal.
Grant Harrold at Eastington Park, near Stroud, has been stopped from using the name
The UK Intellectual Property Office, who rule on trademark disputes, have now found in the Queen’s favour and refused the application.
Trademark hearing officer Allan James said: ‘I find it inherently likely that the user of a trademark featuring the words “The Royal Butler” in relation to training/instruction of a butler would be assumed to be someone who holds the official title of The Royal Butler in the Royal household.
‘The mark would therefore indicate that the user has, or recently had, Royal patronage or authorisation.
‘The applicant seeks to rely on the fact that the settlement agreement does not include a term preventing him from continuing to use “The Royal Butler” as support for his claim that he was given verbal permission to continue such use.
‘In my view, the absence of a term prohibiting use of “The Royal Butler” provides no support for the applicant’s claim that he received verbal consent.
‘The evidence indicates that the applicant only started to use the trading style “The Royal Butler” consistently in late 2014 or 2015.
Mr Harrold is a now a high-profile TC commentator and has appeared on a number of TV shows
‘Secondly, the Cabinet Office’s Constitutional Policy Team wrote to the applicant in November 2015 expressing concern about his use of the words “Royal Butler”, but he persisted in using the name.
‘In these circumstances, there is no basis for the applicant’s complaint that the opponent stood back and had lulled him into a reasonable belief that there was no objection to his use or registration of the contested mark.’
Mr Harrold, 42, has been ordered to pay £2,500 towards the Royal Household’s costs in the case.
In a witness statement submitted to the hearing he said he was under the impression he had been given permission to use the name at the conclusion of an employment dispute in 2012.
Lord Chamberlain, acting on behalf of the Queen, filed an opposition to the application
He said: ‘Having agreed the main issues between the parties, one of the further issues that I raised towards the end of the day was the continued use of the name “The Royal Butler”.
‘I asked Judge [M] to take this issue to the Royal Household and their advisors, which she did. I was concerned that they might try to prevent me from continuing to use it.
‘They had the opportunity to object to my continued use and they did not – they confirmed through judge [M] that they did not have any issue with this.’
Mr Harrold was raised on a council estate in Airdrie and dreamed of serving the Royal Family.
In the late 1990s, he went to work for the 13th Duke of Bedford at Woburn Abbey before being headhunted for a butler role at Prince Charles’ country estate Highgrove.
He reached an out-of-court settlement with the Royal Household in 2012 after claiming he was forced out of his £24,000-a-year job after being
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