Princess Diana's Former Butler Hits Out At Earl Spencer for Bombshell Diana Book
The former royal servant hit out at Diana's sibling, saying that his new book was 'spiteful' and 'revengeful'
PRINCESS Diana's former butler has blasted Earl Spencer's controversial new Diana book, saying 'I didn't recognise it'.
Paul Burrell, 68, joined the household of then-Prince Charles and Princess Diana as a butler in 1987. Although he first worked for the couple at Highgrove House in Gloucestershire, he acted as Butler for the late Princess of Wales until her tragic death in August 1997. In his own books, Burrell claimed Diana was very fond of him, describing him as her "rock" because he supported her during more 'trying' times.
Now, he has hit out at Diana's brother Charles Spencer, 62, after he published his book, Swan Song: Diana My Sister, in which he made several sensational claims. Earl Spencer claimed that the King sounded 'giddily elated - like a lottery winner,' in a call soon after the Paris car crash. He wrote: "Unlike my other callers, who were stunned, barely able to articulate their condolences and offers of help, he sounded giddily elated - like a lottery winner, I remember thinking at the time."
Burrell has now slammed Spencer, as he claimed that Charles was not happy; in fact, he appeared like "a broken man." Speaking on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Burrell stated: "I read this rather spiteful, revengeful, aristocratic point of view that he's penned, and quite frankly, I didn't recognise some of it. He talks about the king being giddy with excitement when Diana died. Well, Piers, I was in Paris. I saw the king on the day he came to Paris. He walked down the corridor towards me. He was a broken man; he was devastated."
The former butler continued: "He went into the room with Diana's sisters for 10 minutes and came out. Clearly, he'd been crying. His eyes were bloodshot, and honestly, I've never seen him like that ever; he was pale and he was scared. And really, I thought to myself, 'You're here for the boys because you're the boys' father, and this is their mother.' And he was paying respect to Princess Diana. So I don't recognise what Earl Spencer says about Prince Charles-it isn't his language."
Piers Morgan previously launched legal action against Earl Spencer, claiming he was defamed by Diana's brother when he wrote that he sounded 'surly' in a phone call shortly before the highly publicised funeral of Princess Diana. Spencer claimed that Morgan felt 'guilt' as he was behind the publishing of invasive images of his sister at a gym by the Sunday Mirror in 1993, and he "snarled with annoyance" at the phone call. Morgan pointed out he didn't even join Mirror Group Newspapers until 1995, and has also recounted a very different account of the conversation in his own book, The Insider. Spencer has since apologised to Morgan for the mistake, but the former America's Got Talent judge wants the book to be pulled from bookshelves and a donation to The King's Trust
Former Buckingham Palace Press Spokesperson Dickie Arbiter recounted a similar scenario to Burrell as he also claimed that Charles appeared to be 'devastated' after the death of his ex-wife. Speaking exclusively to the Royal Observer, he told remarked: "He was devastated. He was shocked. And this became very apparent after they'd attended the service at Crathie Kirk on the Sunday before he flew off to Paris. When he was looking at the floor of tributes, holding Harry's hand, he was absolutely devastated."
The former aide told me: "His body language said everything, and then I saw him in person when he arrived back from Paris at REF Northolt again; his body language said it all, and his face was so drawn. And you cannot put on an act like that. So to allege that Charles said what he said ... is really a means of dragging up publicity, cheap publicity, to sell a book." He added: "And then again, we saw him at Kensington Gardens two days before the funeral with both William and Harry. Again, he looked drawn. He looked haggard. He looked very sad. And his walking behind the coffin with his two sons spoke volumes."
