Princes William and Harry had ‘secret meeting’ with Diana’s butler Paul Burrell ahead of Duke of Sussex’s engagement to Meghan Markle, royal source says
According to a royal source, William and Harry had a secret meeting with Princess Diana’s butler, Paul Burrell, in 2017.
Paul Burrell, 64, served as a footman to the Queen before working for Diana for 10 years until her death in 1997.
It was previously believed that the Prince of Wales, 40, and the Duke of Sussex, 38, last met the former butler in 1997 after their mother’s funeral.
But according to the sunthe brothers had a secret meeting with Paul at Kensington Palace in 2017, before Harry announced his engagement to 41-year-old Meghan Markle.
The source told the outlet it was a “very quiet meeting” the royals held because they wanted to talk to “someone who had been close to their mother,” and felt there were aspects of the princess’s life that they believed were Paul can clarify for them.
Paul Burrell was Princess Diana’s butler for 10 years until her death in 1997 (photo LR: Princess Diana and Paul in Bosnia in 1997)
“They asked for everything to be kept secret and he respected that,” the source added.
“Paul was happy to tell them everything he knew and shed some light on their memories.”
The brothers previously accused Paul of “cold and open treachery” after he published his book A Royal Duty in 2001, which contained a slew of private revelations.
Harry wrote about the book in his 2023 autobiography Spare, describing how he learned of the book while working as an unpaid farm laborer in Australia in 2003 at the age of 19 after leaving Eton.
He writes that he received a package from Buckingham Palace, which was full of memos from Palace’s communications team about ‘a delicate matter’.
“Mama’s former butler had written a tell-all that didn’t really say anything,” he said.
“It was just one man’s self-righteous, self-centered version of events.
“My mother once called this butler a dear friend, trusted him implicitly. We also. Now this.
Prince William and Harry (pictured in Windsor in September 2022) reportedly met with Paul Burrell in 2017
“He was milking her disappearance for money. It made my blood boil.’
Harry writes that he wanted to fly home to ‘confront’ Mr Burrell, but Charles and William talked him out of it, saying that all they could do was ‘issue a united condemnation’.
The Duke also claims he had ‘nothing to do with the drafting’ of the Clarence House statement and that he ‘would have gone much further’.
Meanwhile, Paul has criticized Harry for some of the revelations in Spare, saying he doesn’t recognize who the Prince has become.
It was previously believed that the last time the royal brothers spoke to the butler was after their mother’s funeral (William and Harry pictured outside Westminster Abbey at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales on September 6, 1997)
Speaking on Australian breakfast show Sunrise earlier this year, the former butler said: ‘I first met him in his mother’s womb. I don’t recognize the young man I see today. That’s not the boy I knew.
“What I see now is an angry, petulant, privileged prince who constantly blames other people and takes no responsibility on his part.”
He added that the Duke of Sussex was “fundamentally changed” and his mother would be “shocked”.
“She would be angry at these personal, vengeful revelations that undermine not only Harry, but his country, his family, the institution – of which his mother was very proud – and the legacy of his late grandmother,” he said.
Buckingham Palace and Paul Burrell have been contacted for comment.