Milton Keynes care home resident shares his remarkable life story as a butler to the royals

A 94-year-old care home resident is keeping staff entertained with stories of his fascinating life as butler to the royals and the rich and famous.

Douglas Harrod lives at Lakeview Lodge in Newton Leys, where the wellbeing team regularly enjoys sitting down with residents on a one-to-one basis to learn about their unique pasts.

This enables them to gain a better understanding of people’s backgrounds and interests and helps to tailor all aspects of their care and support.

Douglas started his career in private service at the young age of 14. He began as a ‘hall boy’ and worked his way up to become a footman and eventually a butler.

After briefly serving in the army for five years, he returned to work as a butler for the Bishop of Coventry and his responsibilities included preparing for events, such as dinner parties and shooting parties and ensuring everything ran smoothly.

Later he went to work for Earl Spencer at Althorp House and it was here that he met Lady Diana Spencer.

"She would often come into the Butler’s pantry and sit on the table chatting to Doug and eating roast lamb, said Doug’s wife Jane.

During his career, Douglas met the then Prince Charles at a hunting lodge in Scotland. He describes him as “a charming man”.

Jane said: “When I met Doug, he was working for financier Evelyn De Rothschilds and eventually began working for Robert Maxwell at the Mirror Newspaper in London. Whilst working for Robert Maxwell he travelled around the Mediterranean with him on his yacht.”

Marijana Tokic, wellbeing coordinator at Lakeview Lodge, said: “We love hearing Doug’s stories about all the people he’s worked for over the years. Learning about his keen interest and first-hand knowledge of the royal family has given us talking points and helps us plan activities we know he will be interested in.”

Laekview Lodge is part of the Country Court group, which operates 36 nursing and care homes and plans to open a further four homes in 2023.

A family run business, its philosophy at the heart of every home is ‘Our family caring for yours.’