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?

Yes, she had an averagely shit childhood, was from a social class renowned for its poor parenting and lack of emotional intelligence, and an education that equipped her for nothing but hanging around doing jobs that required no qualifications while she waited to marry someone suitable, but, bluntly, we’re all responsible in adulthood for how we deal with the things that have happened to us.

I don't remember him as being manipulative. Star-struck maybe. Blurring the lines between employee and confidante, he enjoyed being so strongly associated with her in life.

And after she died he just saw the $$$ and was our for all he could get.

bluntly, we’re all responsible in adulthood for how we deal with the things that have happened to us.

*Princess Anne has entered the chat

That would be fun (and curtsies).

Indeed.

Sometimes people talk as if she remained 19.

She was in her late 30s when she died; horribly young to die, but old enough to be responsible for her own actions, which included multiple affairs from when her younger son was aged 2, and hundreds of silent calls to a married lover when he refused to leave his wife.

Let's just say if she'd brought her story to MN she would not have got off lightly.

Princess Anne in therapy would be an excellent comedy sketch.😀

Diana would have had a far easier life if she’d looked like Princess Anne, admittedly, even with the same bad-even-by-the-standards-of-its-time-and-class parenting, and had her talent for riding and obsession with the equine world that have her a natural ‘job’. PA has always managed to essentially be exactly the type of unimaginative, brisk, ‘keep busy’ horsy woman of a certain class that she’d have been had she not been royal, and managed to conduct her affairs and divorce largely under the radar.

Paul Burrell is pretty much despised in the UK, by a certain age group anyway. He committed the cardinal sin of making money from tales of the Royal Family. Of course every British person is brought up to know full well that the Royals make money out of their subjects, not the other way round.

You know, you're right in one sense that as a republican I should applaud him (he's certainly had more use out of the RF than any other British person, probably), but I think it's the fact that he remains obsequious and sycophantic in all interviews that annoys me. I mean, he's still toadying to the royals, while cashing in.

That, and he reminds me of Hugh Bonneville.

😂

OP what are your thoughts on KIKI Charles’s other mistress at the time of his Marriage to Diana as this Vibrant woman was from your part of the world married to an Aristocrat and ran a clothing boutique in Knightbridge but ended up falling out of a window and became Wheelchair bound.
Is there more awareness of her in your neck of the woods?

Sorry got my mistresses mixed up its Kanga !
Lady Dale "Kanga" Tryon, who was widely known as Prince Charles' "other mistress" alongside Camilla Parker Bowles during the 1980s

Unless QEII herself stated she was fond of him, you can't assume anything.

I thought Lady Kanga was one of Prince Phillips "friends"
Correct me if im wrong

He’s a grifter and an obsessive, and a thorn in the side of the RF I think.

In terms of the court case, Elizabeth had her own reasons for keeping him sweet I’m sure. He probably knew personal things that she didn’t want to appear all over social media following his court appearance. Bear in mind that in the UK, you generally can’t be sued for slander for things you say whilst testifying in court. This legal protection is known as "absolute privilege" I believe. I think he’d have been loose-lipped if he’d taken the stand.

Maybe she had purely selfish motives, or maybe she was worried about William and Harry’s feelings. The unsavoury stuff that’s coming out about Andrew indicates that she’d have done pretty much anything to protect the family’s position, though.

I've always wondered what power he held over QE2 for her to suddenly remember about the 'safe-keeping'.

I suspect it was perhaps some rather scandalous knowledge about The Andrew formerly known as Prince.

Saying all these things about Diana, you could be talking about Harry. Definitely his mother's son. The good and the bad.

I've heard the name but don't know anything about that story. Kanga certainly sounds like a name the upper crust Brits would bestow on an Australian!

Yes, this is true. PB does seem to have pieces in his home (I was watching him do a walkaround his house on youtube) that were sent to him by QE2 at various points long after he left. I guess he could've faked them all but it sems unlikely. Same with his visit to the coffin before the public were allowed in.

So, did he actually sell any of the items he took after Diana's death?

Yes I am not sure if it was the press or her circle but that was her moniker .
Charles was Godparent to her sons as well as Camilla’s and they both named their son Charles but Camilla was more discrete and used Charles as a middle name.
I just wanted to remember her place in history she passed soon after Diana but she was very much on the scene back in the day and a documentary about her from 2008 Charles other mistress I found on youtube and being Australian the connection I thought you might find interesting.

She was “friends “ with Charles also very much a fixture at Polo matches and Charles was Godfather to her sons as he was to Camila . They both added Charles as their son’s names. Albeit Camila was more discreet and used it as middle name.
You would have to be wedded to aristocracy and have children so u had something to lose . The rotation it was alleged is close proximity and when pregnancy was occupied elsewhere was available such was the privilege Allegedly

Are you gleaning tidbits for your next piece in the Daily Mail?

interesting that Kanga died in 1997 also

Uh, does that mean you think I'm a journalist?😆

If so, I'm flattered. I wish I was a Daily Mail journalist instead of a 51 y/o single Mum in Australia. Bet they have more $$ than I do.

Thanks @DisrobeDatrobe

I'm leaning towards this as the most reasonable explanation.

He certainly had a very unusual career that involved his family- I do feel for his ex-wife Maria. She must have had a very hard time, even though she had the free house on the property etc.

I've read another book recently by another royal butler. Grant Harrold.

Grant really does make money from his time served with the royal family. But not so much about selling secrets- more about how to be the best butler, lessons on etiquette and so on. Not quite discreet but then again- why shouldn't he do this?

The UK's etiquette expert - Grant Harrold The Royal Butler

He had some dirt on the RF. So the late Queen intervened. They didn’t want him taking the stand at the trial.
He still has that dirt I suspect. What or who it is about I wonder if we will ever know.
He isn’t a pleasant man no. And he was disliked in the UK.