The U.K. celebrated Mother's Day on Sunday, March 30, and while Princess Diana might no longer be with her sons, her former butler, Paul Burrell, is taking a look back at Mothering Sunday celebrations of old. Burrell—who worked with the late princess for a decade before her 1997 death—tells Marie Claire how Prince Harry and Prince William would treat their mom to special gifts years ago.
Although Burrell shares that "Mother’s Day isn’t one of those big celebrations the royals enjoy," the young princes "would ensure they got something nice for her, as they did for her birthday and Christmas, and I was very involved in that."
"They never forgot, their mother was paramount in their life," the former butler tells Marie Claire, speaking on behalf of Slingo. "They always thought of her, always rang her, wrote to her and visa versa."
Burrell explains that he would help coordinate the gifts for William and Harry, adding, "they would call me from school and say, 'We need to get a present for mummy, we need to get her something nice, what should we get?'" In terms of gift ideas, the former butler shares that the late princess "loved Diptyque candles, they were throughout her rooms and she loved nothing more than taking a long soak in the bath and having these candles all around her bath."
Along with her favorite candles, Diana "also loved the essences from Aromatherapy Associates in Knightsbridge, she loved all those essences, so that was an easy gift for Diana." Burrell shares that he'd "point the boys in the right direction" and "would usually go shopping for them, wrap it up for them."
Burrell shares that Kensington Palace "had a huge room filled with wrapping paper, ribbon, every color you could think of," and he would be in charge of making beautiful presentations for Diana's gifts. "There was always a present ready for them to give her and they always thought of their mother."
While he didn't elaborate on any specific celebrations for the holiday, the former royal butler recalls that Diana used to fill William and Harry's "pockets with sweets, secretly, when she watched them play football or cricket. They’d come up to her and she’d fill their pockets with sweets, they weren’t allowed to do that really."
Last year, Burrell shared some of Princess Diana's favorite Christmas gifts with Marie Claire, and along with her go-to Diptyque, he added, "I'd always buy her favorite perfume which Harry and William would pay for—Hermès 24 Faubourg. That was always in her stocking."
As for the royals' 2025 Mother's Day celebrations, Meghan Markle shared a photo of a pie she made for her annual family tradition, while King Charles and Queen Camilla posted touching pictures with their late mothers on social media. Meanwhile, Princess Kate—who experienced a huge backlash last year after editing her Mother's Day photo with her children—shared footage from her 2024 cancer update video to pay tribute to Mother Nature rather than sharing a personal photo for the holiday
