Former royal butler Grant Harrold has broken his silence over Princess Anne's reaction to his one hilarious blunder.

The ex-butler of King Charles has shared Princess Royal's unforgettable response to his unfortunate telephone mishap that left him red-faced in front of the Queen Elizabeth's only daughter.

Harrold, in chat with Reach PLC on behalf of Spin Genie, described the Princess Royal as "a very down-to-earth, normal person".

Discussing the incident, Harrold said: "Anne has always been known for being quick-witted and fun."

He explained: "Usually, Buckingham Palace would ring up and connect a member of the Royal family to speak to the prince [now King Charles]. What I mean by that is we would talk to the switchboard, and then they would connect the person."

"On one occasion, a voice said 'Princess Anne', and I thought, 'Yes, Princess Anne, that's fine. I can handle her,' and then the voice said, 'This is Princess Anne'.

"Luckily, I think she found it quite funny, but I also called her 'Sir'! She gave a little chuckle, probably at the fact I was so nervous and tongue-tied."

Grant, who served alongside Prince Charles from 2004 to 2011 and also cared for Prince William and Kate Middleton during his tenure at Highgrove lavished praise on the King's sister, saying: "She's exactly what you see in public, there's not really a different side to her.

"Obviously, everyone likes her, she's very much like her mother and her father with very similar traits to both of them. She's a hard worker, and is a very down-to-earth, normal person - she didn't even want her children to have Royal titles. She's as modern a Royal as you can get, and behind closed doors she's just like everyone else. She's a real family person and loves her animals."