When you're born to be the future King, it's only natural that people see you in a different light—but according to former royal butler Paul Burrell, giving Prince William "preferential" treatment over his brother Prince Harry was one thing that made Princess Diana "furious." While the late royal tried her best to make sure her sons were seen as equals, just like the Prince of Wales does with his kids today, it turns out one of her ideas wasn't exactly well-received by William and Harry.
Speaking on behalf of Genting Casino, Burrell—who worked alongside Diana and her sons for a decade up until her 1997 death—said that his former boss wasn't a fan of the way staff treated Prince Harry. "As the heir to the Windsor dynasty, William was always accepted with preferential treatment, much to Diana’s disappointment," he shared. "Diana did not approve of that and if she found staff doing that she was furious."
The former butler continued that when it came to "anyone who came in touch with William and Harry, including protection officers and nannies, Diana would always say, ‘Both my boys are equal and they are to be treated as such’, but that didn’t happen."
However, she came up with one idea to put them—at least visually—on an equal playing field. "Diana often dressed William and Harry the same, in identical outfits," Burrell recalled. "The boys hated that, by the way, they didn’t want to be dressed the same, but this was Diana’s way of saying, both my boys are equal to me, they’re both wearing the same outfits."
Whether it was the sweet yellow shorts set the boys wore for a flight to Scotland in 1986, mini Barbour jackets on the polo field or coordinating striped outfits for a Spanish holiday, Harry and William were often seen in identical—or at least extremely coordinating—looks. "In the '80s, lots of families followed suit with this, but the boys didn’t like that and they didn’t understand why they were dressed the same," Burrell said.
The frequent royal commentator added that the competitive dynamic between Prince William and Prince Harry wasn't just related to William being the heir, noting, "If the boys wanted to ride their Shetland pony Smokey at Highgrove, William would get first go, and Harry would have to wait his turn. There’s a point in this sibling rivalry, it happens in every family, the older boys call precedence over the younger one, but it just so happened William was the heir and Harry was the spare."
"This happened naturally like in every other family, the older boy wins out, but the boys were always treated equally by Diana and by Charles, but some others forgot and thought William was the more important," Burrell said.
Diana's former butler recently appeared in the Channel 5 documentary The Palace: What the Royal Servants Saw, sharing a story that displayed the preferential treatment of Prince William over Prince Harry. "I heard one of the nannies say to William, 'I'm going to give you three sausages, William. You need to grow big and strong, because you're going to be king one day.'"
"Poor Harry's face across the table," Burrell recalled. "I looked at him [and knew he was thinking], 'Why did you get three sausages and I got two?'"
