Prince Harry’s eagerly-anticipated memoir, Spare, has hit bookstores today. Readers everywhere can now devour all 401 pages of Harry’s look back at his life so far.
Besides his family and the British press, other targets for Harry’s ire include former royal employees. Specifically, the former butler to his mother, Princess Diana.
Diana was known to have a warm relationship with her butler, Paul Burrell. She called him her “rock”. Burrell worked for Diana for ten years, up until her death in 1997.
In 2003, Burrell published his own memoir, called A Royal Duty. It dwelt largely on his time spent with Princess Diana. In 2007, he launched his own range of wines, entitled Royal Butler Wines.
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“It made my blood boil”
Harry does not name Burrell in Spare, but it’s clear who he’s talking about.
“Mummy’s former butler had penned a tell-all which actually told nothing,” he said when notified in 2003 about the book. “It was merely one man’s self-justifying, self-centering version of events.”
“My mother once called this butler a dear friend, trusted him implicitly. We did too. Now this. He was milking her disappearance for money. It made my blood boil.”
At the time Burrell’s book came out, Buckingham Palace issued a statement on behalf of Charles, William and Harry. It condemned the tome and accused Burrell of “a cold and overt betrayal.”
Harry says he had nothing to do with the statement. Were it up to him, it would have gone even further.
There was some talk of the former butler meeting with the Princes to talk about why he’d written the book. However, it never came to pass. Harry says he was 19 working as an unpaid farmhand in Australia when he heard about the book’s publication.
He was outraged to hear about the memoir and said he wanted to fly back to confront Burrell, but Charles and William talked him out of it.
As for any meeting between the boys and Burrell, Harry says he waited “anxiously” for it to take place. Eventually, he realized it wasn’t going to happen: “’I didn’t know why; I presume the Palace quashed it. I told myself: Shame.”
“I thought of that man as the one errant steer that got away that summer.”
Related: ‘Cut’ or ‘Uncut”? Prince Harry reveals all in new memoir
Paul Burrell slams Harry’s memoirs
Burrell was married to a woman at the time he worked for Diana. A few years after the princess’ death, Burrell came out as gay. He is now married to a man and has since said he thinks Diana knew his secret.
Last December, Burrell spoke out against news of Harry’s memoir and Netflix documentary.
Before working for Diana, Burrell served as a footman for the Queen. He said he believed the late Monarch, who died in September, would be “very upset and unhappy that Harry was saying so much, showing so many private things.”
Today, Burrell appeared on an Australian morning show. He claims Diana would “be appalled” at Harry’s memoir, saying, “She would be really angry at these personal, vindictive revelations.”
Burrell also said he didn’t recognize the Harry sees now compared with the boy he knew.
“What I see now is an angry, petulant prince who’s constantly blaming other people and not taking any accountability on his part.”
stanhope
Oh miss girl, you have been a money grubbing liar from the onset…you lied to your wife, you absconded with royal treasures and you blackmailed the queen to keep your fat arse out of prison…yeah sister, we’re going to listen to you thing. LOL
thebaddestbabby
he is literally a member of a royal family? this is not family drama, it is about the principles of monarchy as they are embodied in human beings. Clearly decades of disnee princesses have rotted your mind to the point where you think Harry’s story is just like any other family breakup
Man About Town
Frankly I can’t tell if stanhope is addressing Harry or Burrell.
Cam
Oh look, another right wing troll account shilling for the royal family.
Ronbo
Oh Cam! Another tRump-imitation, another failed attempt to be clever. Even when I agree with you, your constant refrain (another righting troll – eeeeeek) reminds me that a broken clock is right twice a day. Now… it’s time for you to claim that everyone you disagree with is a “right-wing troll” who is someone else (as if that invalidates their opinion).
Be a better person and study the rules of logic and reason.
GlobeTrotter
“It was merely one man’s self-justifying, self-centering version of events.”
The best description of his own book so far.
OzMarco
LOL…exactly what I thought!
thebaddestbabby
the royal family are supposed to embody the spirit of a country or nation. If you don’t like what Harry is doing OR what Charles, “Willy,” and the rest are doing, well then guess what… you don’t like England. Simple as!
bsg1967
That “family” has never been representative of Britain what are you smoking
thebaddestbabby
being racist to a partially Black person? That is the essence of Britain
ScottOnEarth
Sweet irony. Harry is doing the exact. same. thing in using his mother and the rest of his family to make money and get attention. His outrage is pure hypocrisy but Harry isn’t bright enough to realize that.
Diplomat
But he is bright enough to make well over 120M in two years for telling his side of the story in a book, now the fastest selling book in UK history. Nice to see there are those that cling to his every word of authenticity and truth.
How much have you made?
Fahd
Both Burrell and Harry have demonstrated tremendous disloyalty to the royal family, but I think Harry is worse, It’s Harry’s mother and blood family that Harry is even now actively exploiting.
Also, Harry’s payoff is many magnitudes greater, I guess proportional to the betrayal. Sometimes, it’s awful the way the world works.
thebaddestbabby
who is the victim here? anyone? why do you consider this situation so “awful”?
Ronbo
Harry celebrates Diana’s life and donates profits to charities. Haters just empower hate. Are you listening Fahd? Godabed? ScottonEarth? Globetrotter? Stanhope? Crazyoldman?
Pay attention to the people who attempt to poison others with hate and derision. (which are not good for either the bully’s or their victims). Expect to see them at the next Republican Rally for Hate. Shared values aren’t a good thing when you’re sharing jealousy and hate.
GlobeTrotter
Harry donated the $150 million he just pocketed for selling out his family to charity? Really? Got a source on that?
Ronbo
Globetrotter: The first headline on a simple search: “Prince Harry Will Donate $1.5 Million of His Memoir Proceeds to the Sentebale Charity”. There are 28 other charities – if you actually CARED to look.
Seems you prefer your opinion to reality…. tRump has impacted you quite personally. THAT is a shame as you generally seem truthful and sincere.
bachy
Harry is sharing his truth because he came to believe that continued participation in the RF was destructive to his wife, himself and his children. It’s as simple as that. They tried to work it out from inside the palace walls but their entreaties fell on deaf ears.
The RF collaboration with the British tabloids is a toxic cesspool. Remaining on “the inside” and keeping their mouthes shut meant letting the tabloids trash them from here to eternity. Check out the ‘bloids if you get a chance; they’re whipping the populace into a witch-burning frenzy. It’s literally like something out of the Middle Ages– ugly, unhinged and dangerous.
But now they’re out, living in the US and free to counter the lies – to tell it like it is. Do I expect Harry to be some kind of perfect, omniscient narrator? Of course not. He’s telling it like he sees it. But his POV on a problematic political phenomenon is much needed.
Paris in Santiago
Exactly. Thank you, good sir.
Godabed
He’s clearly a narcissist, in an opportunist why are you doing the tell-all book on your friend p o s
Pier
In the words of another famous princess “let it go”
crazyoldman
Poor privileged, wealthy prince who married the worst example of American trash isn’t getting his way. Tough Shit, get a FansOnly page and show that dick and ginger gateway to heaven and find your true calling.
thebaddestbabby
“the worst example of American trash” I DARE you to elaborate on this statement in a way that is not racist crazyoldman
DannyParks
@thebaddestbaby
What part of “the worst example of American trash” do you interpret as racist? I can’t see it.
thebaddestbabby
@DannyParks I’m saying that if crazyoldman elaborated on why he thinks Meghan Markle is “the worst example of American trash,” he would inevitably reveal that his disgust with her is racially motivated
GlobeTrotter
@thebaddestbabby: So let me get this straight, are you trying to say that black or mixed-race women are incapable of being antisocial, and that therefore any criticism of their bad behavior is “racist”?
Well I am black and let me tell you, the black community has its fair share (sometimes even more) of sociopaths, bad actors and yes, “American trash”. There are quite a few specimens in my own family, and NO, it’s not racist to call this out!
LumpyPillows
Meghan is part of the problem. Like Harry she is overly entitled and misunderstands her limitations. She is not, however, American trash.
Cam
If Meghan was Grace Kelly Republicans would be up in arms defending her.
LumpyPillows
If Meghan was anything like Grace Kelly, there would be far less drama. Meghan is ill suited to playing second fiddle. She either did not understand what she was marrying into or believed she was above it. Big fail. Meghan is the Jada Pinkett Smith in this parody – quietly encouraging her husband to act the fool. Harry’s become pathetic. The one thing QE2 proved was golden was to keep silent. Harry failed to learn this.
You’re tying to make this fit your biases. Not sure how republicans or democrats even fit into the story. It’s a bit of a mess.
GlobeTrotter
Exactly! What Meghan never really understood is that it’s not the job of the Royal Family to glitter and shine, but to SERVE. They’re given a golden birdcage to live in at public expense, and in return they serve the public. While on tour in Australia on behalf of the Queen, Meghan was heard to remark that she’s expected to do “all this work without any pay”…it’s not hard to imagine her plotting her escape back to LA after finding out that she’d be spending the rest of her life in the UK waving and cutting ribbons. It’s not at all by coincidence that she just so happened to have video footage of their every intimate and waking moment – perfect for usage in an upcoming Netflix documentary.