Former royal butler Paul Burrell was one of many who tuned in to see King Charles crowned on his Coronation day earlier this month, and sharing his thoughts on the Royal’s reign, Paul said Charles was "walking a tightrope" between honouring tradition and modernising the monarchy.
Speaking to Spin Genie, Paul reflected on the historic occasion and why it was difficult not to think of the late Princess Diana during the ceremony, as he praised Charles for recognising "hard-working" sister Princess Anne and her "selfless duty".
He said: "Charles has one foot in tradition and one in modernity, he’s trying to walk that tightrope. There were nods to the Queen because Charles recycled all the Queen’s robes and the late King’s robes, his grandfather’s robes.
"All of that ermine and velvet wasn’t new, it was from the archives. It had all been packed in mothballs for years and completely recycled with the new cyphers of the new monarch on it. Like the thrones at Buckingham that have been reupholstered - it’s the same throne but with a different initial on it. I think Charles tried as much as possible to nod towards recycling, upcycling and I can see what he’s doing. He’s got one foot in tradition and one foot in modernity. He’s trying to walk that tightrope, it’s a tough job.
“The star of the show for me was Penny Mordaunt, she stole the day. How she could possibly hold that sword for nearly an hour, my goodness, she should be in He-Man’s Masters of the Universe. To say that Theresa May put her in a corner to be forgotten about, well be careful what you do when you’re in politics because sometimes it can turn around and bite you. She shone, absolutely shone."
Paul also said that he was pleased to see Princess Anne's contribution recognised, adding: “At last, she’s being recognised for all the hard work that she does. In fact, she probably works harder than the King himself and she’s never had any recognition before.
"Now the King is letting her step up to the plate and is saying, 'this is my sister who is long-suffering and hard-working and nobody ever says thank you'. For once, someone is recognising her selfless duty to the public, hooray! Why she isn’t further up the line of succession I just don’t know, because she should be.”
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Paul also said he "defied anyone not to think of Diana" during the coronation. He said that the earrings worn by Kate, Princess of Wales, were a nod to her late mother-in-law.
He said: "William and Harry decided amongst themselves which pieces of the Princess’ [Diana’s] jewellery collection they would want. One chose one, then the other chose one, so it was divided equally between them. Meghan has half of Diana’s jewels in California and Kate has the other half.
"Kate has all the state jewels as well: the ones the Queen gave Diana on her wedding day like the pearl drop tiara and there’s a beautiful bracelet the Queen gave Diana. Most of it stayed with William, apart from the aquamarine ring, which I always adored on the Princess’ hand.
"Lucia Flecha de Lima, the Brazilian ambassador’s wife, brought that stone from Brazil and gave it to the Princess to replace her engagement ring because Diana for a while didn’t wear her engagement ring, that huge sapphire surrounded by diamonds, because of the symbolic nature of it, so Lucia said, 'wear this ring instead'. It’s a huge single aquamarine, Meghan has that.
“There were other nods to Diana in the ceremony that Charles was aware of. He personally picked a hymn that was sung at his wedding to Diana at St Paul’s Cathedral, Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation; I stood up and sang that myself because it’s one of my favourites and I know it’s one of the Princess’ favourites, so that was a nod to the Princess as well.
"So Diana’s spirit was there. As I said before the coronation, I defy anyone in the country not to think of Diana because her boys would be thinking about her and Charles would be thinking about her, his wife who gave birth to his heir and spare. Surely Camilla would’ve thought of Diana, sat in her chair, standing in her shoes, wearing her crown.
"Odd, the way history has kinks and twists and there she is, sitting with a crown on her head. She looked petrified, like a rabbit in the headlights and the King didn’t look 100% either. I thought he looked very emotional and a little bit wobbly."
Paul said that the coronation concert held at Windsor Castle the day after the procession and ceremony was the start of a "new era to be more recognisable and not so remote."
He added: “I think that concert did herald a new era with all the younger royals dancing and waving their flags. I think you can see it becoming more in tune with ordinary people on the street, that’s what Charles is heading for. You notice the walkabouts with all the royals: the King stopping his car on the Mall and getting out to speak with people, all of that is to move towards being more recognisable and not so remote.
"Because the late Queen to many people was a remote figure and they didn’t quite understand who she was, unless you were in the inner circle like me who knew what a kind, Christian lady she was, that never came across. What you’re left with now of course is a shadow of the Queen’s character, played by Imelda Staunton in The Crown, which isn’t the Queen at all.
"I think the closest one would’ve been the one who is most distant in memory, so Claire Foy. As we’re all not as old as the Queen, none of us know what she was like back then. I think it’s very difficult to portray somebody who is of today. That’s where it’s coming unstuck for me with The Crown. They are not recreating the characters for the people, but they are trying to tell their story so the two don’t match.”
