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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Rebecca Cook

Paul Burrell slams Harry for 'exploiting Diana' in doc as he fears William conflict

Paul Burrell strongly criticised Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on Thursday morning amid the release of the first three episodes of the couple's Netflix documentary series.

The former Royal butler appeared on Lorraine with host Lorraine Kelly in the ITV studio to react to the first episode of the docu-series.

The series is being released in two parts of three episodes, with the first three on December 8 at 8am and the following three on December 15.

Lorraine admitted she had only managed to watch the first episode, but said she had been struck by the comparisons made to the late Princess Diana, as she said: "Diana's presence in that episode is everywhere isn't it?"

Paul immediately hit back against the references to Prince Harry's mother, saying: "Talk about exploiting the Princess's image.

Paul immediately hit back against the references to Prince Harry's mother (ITV)

"And talk about showing images which William does not want to be seen again on television. There's bound to be conflict between the two boys."

He then went on to touch on his close relationship to the Princess of Wales, after he was her butler, saying in concrete terms: "Meghan isn't Diana."

He continued: "Diana's from a different age, a different person, different time and things happened to her that will never happen to Meghan.

"This couple could have had it all. They would have been at the heart of the Royal Family now as the King's family.

"They would have been protected by the police and Royal Palaces and the Royal Security.

The former butler said in concrete terms: "Meghan isn't Diana." (ITV)

"They would have been phenomenal for the Royal Family. Instead, they chose a commercial route.

"They chose to cash in. They chose the money above everything else and I think that's what this is about."

Paul went on to say there is 'no way back' for the Royal couple, adding that he does not think they will make an appearance at King Charles' coronation.

He said: "I think the King will be absolutely furious and William will not be happy about all of this exploitation. I think they should stay in America."

Paul went on to say there is 'no way back' for the Royal couple (Netflix)

The Netflix documentary series opens with a disclaimer stating: "This is a first-hand account of Harry & Meghan's story, told with never before seen personal archive.

"Members of the royal family declined to comment on the content within this series."

The opening scenes of the first episode show an airport with a close-up of a departures sign while piano music plays over the footage.

It then cuts to Harry and words on the screen tell viewers he is in the Windsor Suite at Heathrow Airport in March 2020.

The Netflix documentary series opens with a disclaimer (Netflix)

He appears to be filming himself speaking into his phone camera and says: "So we're here on Wednesday the something of March.

"We've just finished our two weeks, our like final push, our last stint of royal engagements.

"It's really hard to look back on it now and go 'what on earth happened'? Like, how did we end up here?"

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