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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Paige Freshwater

Diana's former butler claims 'nothing was good enough' for Prince Harry

Princess Diana's former butler Paul Burrell has hit out at Prince Harry following the release of his highly-anticipated Netflix series and tell-all memoir. The Duke of Sussex wrote in his autobiography Spare that the former butler milked his mother's death when he published his 2001 book A Royal Duty, which shared private information about the royals.

When speaking to Slingo, Paul claimed Prince Harry has changed from a "free, easy going boy" into a "very serious and very media-minded" man. He slammed the Duke for not making it easy on the late Queen when she "bent over backwards" to try and accommodate him and his wife Meghan to make them stay with the royal family.

Princess Diana with her former butler Paul Burrell (Rex Features)

Paul claims that "nothing was enough" for him to appease her on this.

He said: "[The Queen] did so many things which are unprecedented to try and get them to fit into the royal family but in vain because it didn’t seem to be enough.

"A £2 million property on the royal estate at Windsor didn’t seem to be enough. Royal titles and jewels didn’t seem to be enough.

"To bend over backwards and to take Meghan on her first engagement to Chester wasn't enough, to offer Meghan the chance at having Sophie Wessex to mentor her on her royal programmes weren't enough, to say to Meghan 'you can continue acting if you like, if that's what you want', wasn’t enough.

Spare became one of the fastest-selling books of all time after selling 3.2m copies in its first week (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

"Nothing seems to have been enough to make them want to stay, so I think to myself you can try all you like, if they were so minded to leave the royal family, which they were, nothing was going to persuade them to stay."

He has also called for Prince Harry to "take accountability" for the stress he has caused his family - and claims he further "sacrificed" his loved ones for book sales.

"He’s saying that Camilla sacrificed him on her PR altar. Well, Harry, what have you done to the people whom you’ve talked about in your book? You’ve sacrificed them on your PR altar, used them to generate stories for your book," said Paul.

"It’s all she did this, he did that. He needs to take accountability for the part he has played and the stress he has caused his family."

Spare became one of the fastest-selling books of all time after selling 3.2m copies in its first week, according to official figures from Nielsen BookData.

Harry wrote in his memoir that the former butler had been ‘milking’ Diana's death for money (Sunrise)

Larry Finlay, publisher's managing director at Transworld Penguin Random House, said: "We always knew this book would fly, but it is exceeding even our most bullish expectations.

"As far as we know, the only books to have sold more in their first day are those starring the other Harry [Potter]."

According to Penguin Random House, Spare tells the Duke's story with 'raw, unflinching honesty', documenting his journey from 'trauma to healing'.

Among the book's claims included King Charles pleading with his sons not to make his 'final years a misery', and Prince William allegedly assaulting him in a argument over Meghan Markle.

Do you have a story to share? Email paige.freshwater@reachplc.com.

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