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Ever since Prince Harry released his tell-all memoir Spare, many royal watchers have given their opinion and commentary on the Duke of Sussex’s claims against his family. Some have questioned what really went on behind palace walls all those years that got us to this point and others have wondered how his mother would feel about Harry’s path today. Well someone who was with Princess Diana every day and there as Prince William and Prince Harry grew up is Paul Burrell.
He began working for the royal family when he was 18-years-old and became the late Queen Elizabeth II‘s personal footman. In 1987, he joined the household of then-Prince Charles and Princess Diana and continued working as the princess’s butler until her tragic death.
Butler says this is not the path Diana would have wanted for Harry
In an interview following the release Spare, Burrell stated that he believes Harry thinks he going in the same direction his mother had planned by breaking away from the monarchy while making allegations to damage the Firm and moving far away for freedom. But according to the former royal employee, this is not what the princess would have wanted.
Speaking on behalf of Slingo, Burrell opined: “I think he’s convinced himself that this is the way his mother would want him to go but I could counsel him with that and say ‘your mother was a huge supporter of the royal family. She was very proud of you Harry being part of that family and your brother. She always supported the monarchy. She was proud to be a royal princess too, even when she died she was still a princess, Diana, Princess of Wales, and she wanted to continue to support the Crown in anything she did.”
Burrell continued: “There is a huge difference between your mother’s work and what she wanted in life and yours. Just because she wanted to have a bolthole in Malibu in California to take you and your brother on vacation once or twice a year isn’t to say she was about to abandon the country … She never would have abandoned the country. I’ve got letters that say ‘I long to hug my mother-in-law, I know, mama, what it feels like, I understand what it feels like to be queen of this country, I understand your thoughts and feelings,’ all very supportive towards the queen.”
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Butler insists Princess Diana ‘wasn’t fighting against the monarchy’
Burrell also discussed the misconception that Diana was “fighting against the monarchy” before she died.
He explained: “That’s what the public gets mixed up too, they think that Diana was fighting against the monarchy, she wasn’t. She was fighting against her husband because she wanted a fair settlement and to be treated respectfully. She was never fighting against the monarchy, the queen or Prince Philip.
“Harry believes now that he’s following his mother’s dream … We’re getting back to the fact that an 11-year-old’s vision of his mother is a very innocent view and memory of a wonderful life which he had with his mother, which I understand completely. I saw it, I understood that Harry was still tied to his mother’s apron strings. I understood that he thrived on love and cuddles and kisses from his mummy. I saw that. And then it was taken away, his heartbreak I saw that too.”
Princess Diana died following a car crash in Paris on Aug. 31, 1997.
