The ex-butler of King Charles has revealed Princess Anne's brilliant response to his unfortunate telephone mishap.

In an exclusive interview with Reach PLC on behalf of Spin Genie, Grant Harrold described the Princess Royal as "a very down-to-earth, normal person".

He greatly appreciated this aspect of her personality, especially after he failed to realise he was speaking directly to Anne during a call. Discussing the incident, the former Royal butler remembered: "Anne has always been known for being quick-witted and fun.

"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, revealed that Princess Anne is exactly as she appears in public.

He said: "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 drives herself from A-B and goes out and about on her own.

"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."

Princess Anne chose not to bestow Royal titles upon her children, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall, a decision her daughter has expressed gratitude for.

Speaking on Seven: Rob Burrow, The Total Sport Podcast, Zara stated: "From my point of view, I was obviously very lucky that my mother didn't give us any titles so I really commend her on that.

"We were very lucky that we got to do it a bit our own way."