Prince Harry has described how Paul Burrell's 'tell-all' Diana book made his 'blood boil'. In his new memoir, Spare, Harry describes how he believes Diana's former butler was "milking her death for money" when he penned A Royal Duty in 2003, adding that it "made my blood boil".
Harry does not name Mr Burrell, who became a florist in Wrexham following Diana's death, but he details how he received a package of "royal memos" from the palace about the book while working as a farmhand in Australia at the age of 19, North Wales Live reports.
He writes: "Mummy's former butler had penned a tell-all which actually told nothing," he said. "It was merely one man's self-justifying, self-centring 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."
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A statement was issued at the time by the brothers from Clarence House accusing Mr Burrell of "a cold and overt betrayal". In response, Mr Burrell welcomed the suggestion of meeting with the princes to justify his book and tell them about parts of their mother's life they had not witnessed, adding: "I'd love to give them a piece of my mind". In his memoir Spare, Harry describes how he was working as an unpaid farmhand in Australia aged 19 in 2003 after leaving Eton when he learned of the book.
Harry adds he wanted to fly home to "confront" Mr Burrell but his brother and father talked him out of it, arguing all they could do was "issue a united condemnation". The duke also claims that he had "nothing to do with the drafting" of the Clarence House statement and that he would have "gone much further".
On a meeting with Mr Burrell, Harry wrote: "He wanted to give us a piece of his mind?" Harry said he "anxiously" waited for the meeting but it never happened, writing: "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."
The former Royal butler appeared on ITV's I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! in 2004 where he spoke openly about Diana. He appeared on the Australian version in 2018, where he again shared stories and exchanges with the late Princess.
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