A Royal Duty: The poignant and remarkable untold story of the Princess of Wales

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At times the coverage has been adverse, for example in a 2002 case where he was charged with theft related to Diana's possessions. Paul Burrell RVM (born 6 June 1958) [2] [3] is a former servant of the British Royal Household and latterly butler to Diana, Princess of Wales. Burrell, who worked for Diana for a decade, still has fond memories of Harry and William’s childhood.

In a terse three-sentence statement, issued from Clarence House, the princes said: "We cannot believe that Paul, who was entrusted with so much, could abuse his position in such a cold and overt betrayal. As if that’s not enough, it even included the specifics of the 2002 court case against him on theft charges in connection with stealing from his friend, along with the way Her Majesty saved him. When the officials came round, the money was tipped out on to the kitchen table, counted and piled into pound stacks. Eleven years later in 1987 he became part of Charles and Diana’s staff, working as the Princess’ butler for 10 years until her death in 1997.

She (Princess Diana) told me how he had sat with her one night when she was upset over the loss of HRH, put his arms around her and said: Don't worry, Mummy. I never thought that I would need to defend the Princess against untruths from many different quarters. This is an intimate fly on the wall view of Diana's life in her private apartments in Kensington Palace, and yet it is not. That she expected her Butler to be available 24 hrs everyday and in the middle of her many dramas was disappointing.

That’s especially because this amount was seemingly on top of the money he’d already received from the initial book deal, plus the ongoing sales as well as his continued media appearances. I would like to say that I didn't like the headlines in the tabloids, William is not a snob, that is not true, he would only show concern for his brother by marrying someone and bringing them into the Royal family. The former butler had insisted he had over 300 of Princess Diana’s possessions just for long-term safekeeping, and that’s the undeniably essential detail the Queen eventually corroborated. The reviews on Goodreads are not genuinely welcoming for this book, but the general negative/positive opinion on smth is not really a quality indicator.I notice he did not mention any of the people he talked about in the acknowledgements, nor did he say in the text that he'd gotten their blessing to include them in this book. He thus published ‘The Way We Were: Remembering Diana’ in 2006 — he’d previously also penned the kind of unrelated ‘Entertaining with Style’ and ‘In the Royal Manner: Butler to Diana’ in 1999.

He tells of his memories of the Paris hospital, putting items in her casket and keeping a vigil beside her on the night before her funeral. It deals with his time as butler to the Prince and Princess of Wales at Highgrove House in Gloucestershire, his move to Diana's staff at Kensington Palace after her divorce from Prince Charles, and the dismissal of the theft charges against Burrell.The 64-year-old served as a footman for the Queen before working for Diana for ten years until her death in 1997. Having read Paul Burrell's other book about being butler and confidant to Princess Diana, I wondered what additional information could be included in this book. Prince Harry spoke unfavourably of Burrell’s book in his memoir, and now the former royal butler has hit back. While Paul has always maintained he was Princess Diana’s rock during the years she faced unprecedented scrutiny owing to her private life, no other reports or sources have claimed the same.

He paints a faithful and poignant tribute in remembrance of 'the boss' as the person who shared her private world and knew her best. During that time, I have watched and listened patiently as many individuals have claimed to know the truth about the Princess of Wales. What she did outwardly has earned public recognition, and to be fair, it is sometimes necessary to raise awareness of certain issues, but most importantly, what she did in secret even shown more how a warm-hearted person she is.But I believe that it is important that the truth is known NOW rather than waiting for the details to emerge in official papers when they are released in 25 years. As the world prepares for the official inquest into her death, The Way We Were marks an intense period of reflection by ensuring the spirit, warmth and character of the person at the centre of proceedings is not lost or obscured.