Paul Burrell, Diana's Former Butler


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and diana then cut out Maria and was icy to her.. She coud drop people when she felt that they were not fiting in with her. If she'd found Paul B acting the way he did in later years, Im sure she would have dismissed him and all his sychphancy would not have saved him.
 
he is still obsessed 20 years later with someone he worked for, whom according to some reports was increasingly unhappy with his behaviour and who was saying things like "hel'll have to go." Not to mention taking her things, still trying to get on the news at her son's wedding 20 years later? If he really cant' move on from an emotional attachment to Diana at this stage, he needs therapy. he has just gotten married.. why not be happy with his new partner, remember Diana in private and be glad that he now has a good life?
Still obsessed or still profiting? He's made millions of selling his story and connection. Would he still be talking about Diana if it didn't mean it brings in a certain amount of income?
 
Still obsessed or still profiting? He's made millions of selling his story and connection. Would he still be talking about Diana if it didn't mean it brings in a certain amount of income?

I think hed still be obsessed, he might talk about her to friends, keep mementoes, watch her on TV etc.. but well if the Press are willing to pay him money, he is boudn to be temtped to talk abuot her publicly...
 
I have the impression that he's still obsessed with her, because he can't seem to be able to stop talking about her. There is an amount of "red carpet fever" going on IMO, and he gets paid to talk about Diana. That adds to how much he's in the media. I read an article a while back that mentioned that he still talks about Diana to people who visits his flower shop. :ermm:
 
well you'd kind of expect that. People come to his shop because they know he knew Diana..
 
:previous: IIRC correctly, Diana was looking for possible vacation home in the USA. She wasn't looking to move there permanently.
 
:previous: IIRC correctly, Diana was looking for possible vacation home in the USA. She wasn't looking to move there permanently.
probably not, unless she were to have found an American husband. I think she thought of S Africa as nearer to the UK, during the times when she felt she watned out of the country, but wanted to be near enough to visit the boys.
 
probably not, unless she were to have found an American husband.

The Hollywood community would certainly have reached out to her..:ermm:

Nice thing about an opportunity to dabble in illustrious Calif or British properties, is often selling at well beyond the price paid.
 
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Im sure that yes the "Hollywood community" would have bene wildly excited.. Whehter Diana would have liked that atmosphere is another matter, once she actualy lived in it.. She liked America, but she might have found it wasn't quite as great as she believed, when she saw it from a distance.
 
I agree. Can't stand the man.

Realizing it's not a popular thing to ask or inquire about....yet wondering since there was an especially close bond between her and Paul, why Wills and Harry would find it so painful that her memory were kept alive with some epithets Paul shared over the years.. Privacy is often considered paramount after a person's death, but this situation was not typical. I get that they feel they are in a position to better speak on behalf of their mother than Paul, but being that close for so long should count for something.

In other words, strict adherence to no revelations given to the public makes it appear as if an outsider is going around saying appalling things about their mother, which is a tortured..distorted version of the truth.

If they had chosen to maintain their friendship with him despite what was said, it's fair to say his status would be many miles higher than where it stands today..

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/oct/25/pressandpublishing.marketingandpr
 
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:previous: I don't know what Wills and Harry would reply to this, but my opinion is that they think Burrell told too much; that he told many things that were his interpretation of what happened (not always what happened) and that he was and is still making living off their poor, dead mother and the Burrell version of her life.

I'd resent that too.
 
Some of the brothers' attitude comes from the old BRF tradition of cutting off members of staff who blab about royals' private lives. That goes back to the days of 'Crawfie', the Queen's old governess.

And, as we've discussed, Paul may not have been the 24/7 confidant and best friend to Diana that he has constantly claimed he was. Of course he was quite close to her and ran her household very well. But in the end he was Diana's butler, a member of staff, not her bestest friend.

It's not up to William and Harry to elevate Paul Burrell's status with the public. He has maintained himself since her death with a stream of books and interviews about their mother and became wealthy in the process. I don't think that's the sort of person they want to keep as a friend, however worshipping Paul is of their mother.
 
Delete, as this was a reply to a post that has just been removed.
 
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Very interesting article. From a lot of the sources that I've read over the years, there are numerous people that have given their total lives to being in service to the royal family. Paul Burrell and Crawfie are among them. Backstairs Billy comes to mind also. They not only served members of the royal family but also became quite close to them and come to know them intimately in ways that the public never sees.

Makes us realize that things aren't always as they appear to be on the surface when it comes to a royal household. :D
 
Miss Crawford was 17 years in Royal service (as a governess not a nannie) not a lifetime, and the Queen Mother, as the article shows, was reasonably amenable to a deal being brokered so long as the articles weren't signed off by 'Crawfie'.

However, the ex governess's husband (her marriage wasn't very happy) went too far and inveigled her into an American contract which brought both of them many thousands of dollars and her identity became known.

Crawfie later came a cropper with her magazine column. She rhapsodised about a ceremony in which the Queen takes part each year, but which was unexpectedly cancelled. So she was let go.
 
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Realizi
If they had chosen to maintain their friendship with him despite what he said, it's fair to say his status would be many miles higher than where it stands today..

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/oct/25/pressandpublishing.marketingandpr

why should they? THey were friendly with him as children but he crossed several lines in taking her things and in writing endless books and articles abou her and being indiscreet. And he was not her best friend and probably not as close to her as he has made out. So they have long since moved on and are certainly not happy about the way that he has exploited his relationship with her...
 
I, personally, think that both William and Harry would have seen Burrell for exactly who he was. An employee of their mother's household. Nothing more, nothing less.
 
He was for time close to Diana, and Im sure that they regarded him as a friend in that sense. THey knew that Diana needed someone to look after her and Paul was a very devoted servant. But he did cross so many lines after her death that I can understand that they lost any respect for him...
 
why should they?

Just in terms of healing I think it was a missed opportunity for both Princes but especially Harry being younger with a more pronounced trauma overall to deal with than others. He has spoken of being in less than a great way for a considerable time. When realizing and discussing the problem with his brother back then, William recommended he seek professional therapy for it.

Therapists are helpful, but you can't buy what Paul would have given, not only relating to the loss, but intuitively feel the pain on many levels. And since he was a basket case himself, both would surely have improved over a period of several months, or perhaps years. Even today they would benefit by getting together or talking once in a while.

Harry would shock the monarchy and nation to the core if he ever did that.
 
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I'm sorry but that is a huge NOOO! Paul could give neither William or Harry anything, he is obsessed with feeling important and that's the only thing he wants from them. What Harry needed wad therapy not some backstabbing servant obsessed with his dead mother.
 
Just in terms of healing I think it was a missed opportunity for both Princes but especially Harry being younger with a more pronounced trauma overall to deal with than others. He has spoken of being in less than a great way for a considerable time. When realizing and discussing the problem with his brother back then, William recommended he seek professional therapy for it.

Therapists are helpful, but you can't buy what Paul would have given, not only relating to the loss, but intuitively feel the pain on many levels. And since he was a basket case himself, both would surely have improved over a period of several months, or perhaps years. Even today they would benefit by getting together or talking once in a while.

Harry would shock the monarchy and nation to the core if he ever did that.
what on earhth would "Pau have given?" he was and is a bit of an obsessive mixed up person, harldy ideal to be a therapeutic figure.
and I don't know why youre' sayng that Paul could have helped him but OTOH that Harry would have shocked the nation if he had had talked to Paul. if he did so, who would know abuot it? Would people really be shocked if he did occasionally talk to his mother's butler, even if Paul was disgraced?
 
Given Diana's ways with people I do believe Paul Burrell and she were friends. :cool:

There is a tendency to see the class difference and the employer/employee relationship as precluding friendship, but I don't think Diana saw it that way. Like with James Hewitt, Diana pulled her male friends into her circle wherever they came from and her sons would have known Paul Burrell like they knew James Hewitt. It's a shame that perceived protocols (royal class distinctions) preclude the normalcy of maintaining connections with people from the young princes' childhoods. I think it would be helpful (for them) to be able to chat with such people. :flowers:
 
Diana and Burrell were friends to a certain extent as Paul ran Diana's's household very well and knew a certain amount of her private business. In the end though he was still an employee, albeit a trusted one. She hardly went around socialising with him, nor did he sit at her dinner table as a guest.

As for William and Harry having chats with Burrell as adults, I think they made their feelings about him known years ago when they issued that statement reproving him for writing his book about their mother. I think they regarded it as treacherous and I believe they still have that opinion (as they would about other ex royal staff who have done the same thing.)
 
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Given Diana's ways with people I do believe Paul Burrell and she were friends. :cool:

There is a tendency to see the class difference and the employer/employee relationship as precluding friendship, but I don't think Diana saw it that way. Like with James Hewitt, Diana pulled her male friends into her circle wherever they came from and her sons would have known Paul Burrell like they knew James Hewitt. It's a shame that perceived protocols (royal class distinctions) preclude the normalcy of maintaining connections with people from the young princes' childhoods. I think it would be helpful (for them) to be able to chat with such people. :flowers:

Both William and Harry did find such a person and their relationship with her continues to this day. In fact, when Harry and Meghan visited Wales, Harry made a side trip to her place to introduce Meghan. She was a big support system to the boys not only after the divorce but, I believe, it continued through the years.

I'm talking about Tiggy Legge-Bourke.

Paul Burrell did efficiently run Diana's household but I think he was mainly in the background of "staff" when William and Harry were at home with Diana. They didn't interact with Paul as they interacted with Tiggy. Paul may have worked for Diana but if and when the boys needed someone to talk to, I think they would have turned to Tiggy quite a bit more. That was her job. To be there for the boys.
 
There is a tendency to see the class difference and the employer/employee relationship as precluding friendship, but I don't think Diana saw it that way. Like with James Hewitt, Diana pulled her male friends into her circle wherever they came from and her sons would have known Paul Burrell like they knew James Hewitt. It's a shame that perceived protocols (royal class distinctions) preclude the normalcy of maintaining connections with people from the young princes' childhoods. I think it would be helpful (for them) to be able to chat with such people.

That was great. One thing that would give me 'pause' in a chance meeting or befriending a royal, would be knowing that a technical violation could destroy the acquaintance in less time than it took to have breakfast. The protocol is no laughing matter, certainly.

Would people really be shocked if he did occasionally talk to his mother's butler, even if Paul was disgraced?

After years of no contact with him, it would be very unexpected.
 
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Of course it would be unexpected because the way Paul behaved, it was unlikely that ay member of Diana's family would want any contact with him..
 
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