Paul Burrell and Diana, Princess of Wales - the book and the reaction of the Royal Family
Paul Burrell, butler to the late Diana, Princess of Wales, will shortly publish his book “A Royal Duty”, but for the past several days extracts have been published in the British tabloid newspaper The Daily Mirror. I do not read this newspaper so have not read the extracts, but I have heard and read a lot of comment about them.
It seems to me that it would have been better had Paul Burrell refrained from exploiting the memory of the late Princess of Wales in this way, but to balance this I do find the outrage expressed by the 'establishment' and by the Royal Family to be somewhat disingenuous, not to say hypocritical - they after all were quite prepared to allow criminal charges to be launched against Paul Burrell for alleged theft, and stepped in only at the last moment to halt the trial. I am perfectly happy to give the 'benefit of the doubt' to Her Majesty the Queen, for it was She who "came through for me" in the words of Paul Burrell, that this happened because of Her sudden recall of a conversation She had with Paul Burrell soon after the untimely demise of Diana. Less trusting souls than me, however, might well [and perhaps with some justice] argue that Her intervention was to prevent the perceived disaster for the Royal Family of Paul Burrell being required to give evidence in open court. The Royal Family seems to expect unquestioning loyalty of its servants, which is fair enough, but it does not always seem to reciprocate this loyalty. Loyalty is, or certainly should be, a two-way street.
The heir to the throne, Prince Charles, undoubtedly behaved deplorably before and throughout his marriage to Diana; whether her own behaviour was prompted by this or quite independent of it, I have no way of knowing.
What is clear though is that the hurt and upset caused to the Princes William and Harry is genuine and that their joint statement issued yesterday was justified. They after all are quite innocent - they were simple bystanders to the behaviour of their parents, which in one way or another led to the tragedy of the Princess of Wales' death at such a young age.
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