Originally posted by Binny@Dec 2nd, 2003 - 10:30 pm
Burrell still hopes for royal meeting - 2 December 2003
Paul Burrell said he had not been in contact with the princes for six years
The former royal butler Paul Burrell has said he hopes to meet Princes William and Harry before Christmas.
Giving a public talk about his controversial book, A Royal Duty, in Wrexham, he said he would never have written about Princess Diana if he had received a single telephone call from either of her sons, and he wanted to explain himself to them.
The princes have been critical of the book and accuse Mr Burrell of betraying their mother.
But he said he did not understand why they felt like this, adding that he had let the reader "peep inside the doorway, but I haven't let you into the room".
Mr Burrell, who runs a flower shop in Holt, north Wales, gave his only UK public talk about his book at Wrexham Library on Monday evening.
The book includes intimate letters sent to Princess Diana while Mr Burrell was her butler.
He said that if you had witnessed history, you had a responsibility to write about it.
He added that he hoped to tell Princes William and Harry what he had left out of the bestseller when he met them.
Mr Burrell said he was dissapointed the princes did nothing to help him when he was wrongly accused of stealing some of Princess Diana's possessions.
Paul Burrell said Princess Diana is "smiling down on him"
He has not had any contact with them for six years and all his letters have been returned.
Mr Burrell insisted he had "personally thought" about every page he had written.
"I wrote it and thought of it as a loving tribute to the Princess and nothing else," he said.
"I haven't shared intimate secrets, they'll go with me to the grave."
Currently on a world book tour, he said it was important for him to give the talk in Wrexham, which he described as his "own backyard".
With his wife Maria and son Alexander sitting in the audience of 150 people, he talked about his life as footman to the Queen and later as Princess Diana's butler.
He said he does not know what the future holds but it is a "very interesting time".
He added that he had received "tremendous support" from the Princess's friends, and he believed that Diana was "smiling down" on him.