Inside William and Kate's surprising Halloween party they 'absolutely loved'

A former royal staffer has given a rare insight into one of Prince William and Princess Kate's Halloween parties.

The Prince and Princess of Wales have been married since 2011, but their shared history goes back much further.

William and Kate first met while studying at St Andrews University in Scotland in 2001.

Their friendship developed into a relationship between 2002 and 2003, and the couple made it official in 2004.

The royal couple have hosted several parties over the years, and now a former royal butler has split the beans on one of them, which took place in October 2009 - two years before their wedding.

Grant Harrold, who worked as butler to King Charles when he was Prince of Wales during 2004 to 2011, has also looked after William and Kate during his time at Highgrove before he stopped his service to the royals.

Speaking to Smooth Spins, Mr Harrold talked about what really went on during his years in royal service - including the behind-the-scenes details of the Waleses' 2009 Halloween party.

He also revealed the preparations for the event, the couple's intimate guest list, and the spooky location in which it took place.

Mr Harrold said: "The younger royals used to go away for Halloween. I used to go up to Scotland with Prince William and Kate.

"I remember back in 2009 they threw a Halloween party at one of the remote cabins on the estate. Me and one of the other butlers kitted it all out for Halloween with cobwebs and spiders."

The former royal butler revealed that there was a couple of surprising details at the spooky royal party as there was no Halloween-themed meal and the guests were not in fancy dress.

He explained: "The meal itself wasn't Halloween themed, but we did the decorations all spooky. They invited a group of their friends over, it wasn't huge but there were about 12 people there.

"They didn't do fancy dress, they were all in jeans and shirts - smart casual dress. I don't know if Prince Harry was there, but William always used to invite his brother to things like this. William and Kate absolutely loved it."

He added: "The kitchens packed up the food for William and Kate to take down. They took it all down themselves, unpacking it and serving it themselves.

"They then washed it all back up, packed up the boxes and brought it back up to the main house."