Paul Burrell, Diana's butler before her death

[MarchionessVonSausage]

I'm just reading "The Royal Insider" by Paul Burrell. It's quite amusing, lots of tidbits about his time as a footman to QE2, less about his time with Diana and Charles although maybe that comes later. I think his 1st book was more about Diana.

Does anyone remember back when he was charged with stealing Diana's belongings after she died, but the trial fell apart when the Queen said she knew that he'd taken some items "for safe-keeping". I've heard all sorts of stories about this, it seems loads of people think he's a liar and a thief. I've seen him interviewed and he comes across as very charming, not that this means he's not a liar!

Just wondering if anyone remembers it, I'm Australian and it wasn't widely reported here. What was the thinking at the time? Did he have much public support?

I don't recall him having any public support. He was seen as being quite manipulative of a vulnerable Diana.

I hadn't heard that. Manipulative in what way? I thought all the bad public sentiment was about him taking her stuff.

That he got too close to her, blurred professional boundaries.

It means that he was a jumped up Johnny with notions about himself that didn't square with his position.

I doubt he has a lot of public support or interest really. Working as a butler in the royal household should require full discretion and respect for privacy. Yet he makes a living from selling personal and private stories, largely about his time working for Diana but also other royals.

William and Harry put out a statement, I think it was when he published a book about Diana detailing lots of (alleged) confidences, saying how he had betrayed their mother.

he is not well thought of
he is forever on channel 5 where they seem addicted to the royal family

He’s a vulture. Actually repulsive. No surprise W & H can’t stand the guy.

Yes I remember, didnt he say he had taken away some of her stuff for "safe keeping"? Personal letters. Etc, IIRC.
Her Maj probably "remembered" he had some of he stuff because she didnt want anymore scandals raging round the family
(That turned out well didnt it 😁)

Yes that was all very suspicious, sounded like there was some blackmail going on. I am not saying there was but that is certainly how it looked at the time!

He was one of those people who went from ‘nice friendly butler’ to ‘untrustworthy’. Public opinion of him certainly changed over time.

Paul Burrel was an absolute slime ball, a proper confidant and "rock" as he called himself keeps his mouth shut and doesn't talk and make a living out of their employer and family like Paul Burrel does, i wasn't a fan of Diana tbh but he makes my blood boil, and he is so slimy I shudder when I see him.

I think Diana was a bit of an idiot, but a former employee who’s largely made his living since her death by selling stories about stories and giving the impression they were best friends is way lower.

He is seen as a bit of a sleaze bag in the UK, who sold his story for money. Part of that household but cashed in almost immediately. Every third rate documentary on the royals will feature him

I agree, I had my own thoughts about her, but he is the lowest.

The thing is he can assert anything as Queen and Diana are both dead. That’s who he is concentrating on for now.

Paul Burrell was scapegoated as part of a much wider issue of the RF giving away valuable items, including those publicly presented to them (e.g. gift from local councils). He was stitched up like a kipper at that trial, they only backtracked when they realised he 'knew where all the bodies were buried'.

The books were his revenge. I don't blame him for taking revenge.

He was genuinely obsessed with Diana, sucked in by her manipulations, working all hours for her including running around London at 3am when she'd had a row with her boyfriend and that kind of thing.

When she died he lost not only his job but a large part of his existence. He was also closeted for that period but Diana was in his confidence about his sexuality.

He seems to be happy now with his husband and the life he's built - I wish him well.

I think he comes across as a weirdo and he has milked his employment with them for all it’s worth.

I think this is largely true. Making a buck now and really well whatever. I don't actually think anything he ever said was that interesting and certainly not really scandalous. Anyhow..

If he’d been ‘stitched up like a kipper’, he’d have gone to prison for theft, rather than getting off after the queen intervened via the CPS! And he was always planning to monetise his relationship with Diana, long before he was tried for theft — why else would he have copied out newsworthy passages of her letters, and other RF members’ letters to her, without her knowledge, while working fir her, and had his copies sent to the US ‘for safekeeping’?

I agree he was scapegoated. I do think he was devoted to Diana, not necessarily 'sucked in by manipulations' but a true confidant and personal servant.

I hated seeing what a mess he was after her death and during the relentlessly grim shenanigans afterwards. He was clearly devastated, having a breakdown in full public view, and was abused for being in that state.

He still needed to make a living in the aftermath. Telling his story may have helped his recovery somewhat, I don't know, but writing books about such an unusual life seems an obvious choice of second career.

A friend of mine met him

She had taken her disabled ds and adult dd out somewhere and he was sat,with his boyfriend about 10 feet away when they sat down to have a picnic

She said he was lovely and he commented he wasnt paying for his sandwiches,as he'd brought some from home and it saved him money

I think hes a slimy twat and turn over when he comes up on the tv

That court case was fishy to say the least-i dont believe for one second the queen suddenly 'remembered' she'd given him whatever it was

They wanted him to go away and keep his gob shut

Diana was a venal, superficial, rather silly woman, with poor MH, spectacularly poor taste in friends and romantic attachments, and a capacity for making people who worked for her, whether that was her butler, body guard, massage person or tarot card reader, feel like they were deeply special to her.

I don’t doubt that the ghastly PB may have genuinely believed they were besties, but he infringed both confidentiality and copyright in his books, and blithely made a living by selling knicker-sniffing stories about someone he claims to have loved. Her bereaved children regarded this as a gross betrayal.

There’s no way for PB to come out of monetising her memory and his access to her as her servant looking anything other than odious and greedy.

I assume that the RF, who could absolutely have sued him for copyright infringement and breach of confidentiality, had their own agenda in not pursuing him legally before the book appeared.

It seems perfectly possible to me that, as his revelations generally made Diana look unstable and a bit of a twit, with very poor judgement, and flagged up her own post-divorce relationships (like when he says he was asked to find a priest to marry her and Hasnat Khan), it tarnished the Saint Diana image of the period immediately after her death, and hence made the RF’s attitude to her seem wise, plus paved the way for a broad public acceptance of the Charles;Camilla relationship becoming ‘official’. His book came out the year they started living together.

Thanks so much for the input here!

I'll reply properly after dinner! (it's 6pm here in Oz) but QE2 was apparently still very fond of Paul. According to this book and interviews, he was able to pay his respects to her coffin before the public were allowed in.

Also, QE2 sent Paul & his Husband Coop a wedding gift, long after he'd left employment. Obviously also after he'd divorced his wife Maria, who was a Maid to Prince Phillip.

I wonder why the late Queen was so fond of him?

Diana was a venal, superficial, rather silly woman, with poor MH, spectacularly poor taste in friends and romantic attachments, and a capacity for making people who worked for her, whether that was her butler, body guard, massage person or tarot card reader, feel like they were deeply special to her.

OR: Diana was an emotionally vulnerable 19 yr old (she was 19!) in an intensely isolating institution, conned into a marriage that was compromised from the start by Charles ongoing affair (and being in love with) Camilla. Remember, this was before mobile phones and social media, she was effectively stuck in the rigid palace culture. She had little real support (certainly no stable parents, no one to say whoah, hang on, what's occurring here?) and few people she could trust. I mean you can't downplay the extraordinary pressures and structural realities she lived under. The 'saint Diana' reaction was because most people felt bloody sorry for her. What a sad beginning and a horrible end.

Her intense attachments to staff, or dodgy healers or unsuitable partners could be read less as superficiality or foolishness and more as the behaviour of being lonely, emotionally neglected and constantly under extraordinary public pressure. After all, she was the most photographed women in the world, relentlessly (tragically) pursued by the press, unable to trust many people, repeatedly betrayed through leaks, surveillance and gossip....cf Paul Burrell, who she probably did include as part of her surrogate family, but who has also made her his career ever since....Maybe the Queen was grateful to him for showing kindness and loyalty to Diana when everything around her was so shit (I totes am projecting that last bit - but not the rest!)