King Charles III apparently has a cheeky sense of humor.
His former butler, Grant Harrold, revealed the royal gives his staffers very unusual presents for Christmas.
“One time he left a tin of salmon and one year I got a salt and pepper grinder wrapped in a ribbon,” the etiquette expert, 45, told the Mirror Wednesday.
“He had probably been given a hamper and sometimes there would be a lot in them and he would give some of the bits to us.”
Harrold, who worked for Charles for seven years from 2004 to 2011, also shared that the monarch chose to leave the “funny little things” in their lockers’ “pigeon holes,” where his employees would typically receive their mail.
The former staffer said he thought it was “so bizarre” to receive such gifts because he didn’t expect Charles — or any royal — to make such a gesture.
“It shows that they’ve got that fun, practical side to them,” he added.
However, it’s not just the royals’ employees who receive gag gifts during the holiday season.
Prince Harry revealed in his memoir, “Spare,” that his relatives uphold the same tradition with each other.
He wrote that Princess Margaret once gave him a fish biro, which is a ballpoint pen, and that his wife, Meghan Markle, joined in on the fun by gifting him an ornament of Queen Elizabeth II in 2020, according to Town and County.
Harry, 39, said in his book, “Meg had spotted it in a local store and thought I might like it. I held it to the light. It was Granny’s face to a T. I hung it on an eye-level branch. It made me happy to see her there.”
Harrold also told the Mirror, though, that Charles, 75, gave his employees “proper gifts,” too.
“For actual proper gifts would be things like tea cups and saucers or whiskey glasses,” he shared.
“One year I got a lovely water jug. What would happen is, for example with the teacups, you would get them maybe two or three years in a row because there would be a whole set to collect.”
Harrold said the royals also gave their staffers their annual “famous Christmas card.”
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“Before he was married to the now Queen Consort, I remember getting Christmas cards from him, William and Harry and that was always quite special,” the ex-butler noted.
Charles may not have had to shell out as much on presents this year as he did in the past because the monarch was reportedly looking to slash his household staff by 20 percent in August.
The Mail on Sunday reported at the time that the King planned to make massive job cuts that would affect “dozens” at Buckingham Palace, Sandringham, Windsor Castle, and Balmoral.
An insider previously explained to the outlet, “There is a real feeling that the staffing at all the palaces is too heavy. There are far too many assistants to assistants. The King and Queen would prefer to pay people proper wages top to bottom but have less people.”
