Diana's butler says he must 'share her secrets with William and Harry'

Diana’s ex-butler Paul Burrell who is battling prostate cancer says he must ‘share her secrets with William and Harry’ as he prepares for surgery

• Ex-butler Paul Burrell is ready to share Diana’s ‘secrets’ with William and Harry 
• He said it may ‘bring the boys back together’ which Diana ‘would have wanted’
• He said his cancer battle ‘brought the responsibility’ of telling the pair into focus

Princess Diana’s former butler has said he is ready to ‘share her secrets’ with Prince William and Prince Harry after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Paul Burrell, referred to by Diana as her ‘rock’, served the princess for 10 years until her death in 1997. He now says he feels the burden of Diana’s secrets confided in him during their years together and wants to tell her two sons ‘before it’s too late’.

The former butler and confidante says his illness has brought the responsibility of telling William and Harry what he knows about their mother into sharper focus.

Mr Burrell has also claimed that the information he has ‘could bring the boys back together’ – something he claims Diana ‘would have desperately wanted.’

Princess Diana’s former butler has said he is ready to ‘share her secrets’ with Prince William and Prince Harry after being diagnosed with prostate cancer (Diana and Paul Burrell are pictured together in 1997)

Mr Burrell has also claimed that the information he has ‘could bring the boys back together’ – something he claims Diana ‘would have desperately wanted’. Diana is pictured with Harry and William during a visit to Thorpe Park in 1993

The former butler and confidante says his illness has brought the responsibility of telling William and Harry what he knows about their mother into sharper focus. The brothers are pictured together last September

Mr Burrell told The Mirror: ‘I know some of it isn’t pretty, but if I leave this place and go somewhere else they’ll never know.

‘I think they should know.’

‘I think Diana would say to me, “Paul, you must make this a priority. You must go and see my boys”.’

Mr Burrell revealed his prostate cancer diagnosis last month and said it made him fear he would run out of time to ‘tell them the truth’.

He previously described himself as Diana’s ‘best friend’ and has alleged she referred to him as ‘the only man she ever trusted.’

The former butler says he wants to ‘do my bit’ to help repair the strained relationship between the two brothers.

He believes the information Diana trusted him with may bring them closer together, adding that the late Princess would have wanted her sons to be ‘stuck side by side for the rest of their lives.’

Paul Burrell, (pictured) referred to by Diana as her ‘rock’, served the princess for 10 years until her death in 1997. He now says he feels the burden of Diana’s secrets confided in him during their years together and wants to tell her two sons ‘before it’s too late’

Former royal butler Paul Burrell with Diana in 1997 – weeks before she was killed in a car accident with boyfriend Dodi Fayed 

Mr Burrell confirmed he was battling prostate cancer last month, just weeks after hitting back at Harry over claims he ‘milked’ Diana’s death for money.

He also revealed he will undergo an operation this month to remove the affected prostate gland. 

He explained: ‘I’m tired, I’m on hormone therapy, it’s robbing me of my testosterone so my beard isn’t growing as it should, and I’m getting hot flushes. 

‘In the summer I had to go for a medical for a TV programme I was doing and their duty of care was to go for a full medical. And out of that was a high level of a chemical PSA produced by your prostate gland.’

He added: ‘I was wrapping Christmas presents, wondering “will I be here next Christmas?”. I had to tell my boys, and they said to me, “Dad we need to see you more”.’ 

The second most common form of cancer in men over the age of 50, prostate cancer affects the male reproductive system by infecting the small gland responsible for producing and transporting seminal fluid. 

Mr Burell said: ‘I think Diana would say to me, “Paul, you must make this a priority. You must go and see my boys”.’ Pictured: Diana leaving St Paul’s Cathedral with Harry and William in 1990

Pictured: Diana taking Prince William and Henry Harry to Wetherby school London in 1989

In his controversial memoir Spare, Harry accused Mr Burrell of ‘milking’ Diana’s tragic death for money when he published his 2001 book A Royal Duty – which contained a raft of private revelations.

But Mr Burrell last month hit back at Harry’s criticisms, saying he doesn’t recognise ‘the young man I see today’.

He said: ‘I first met him in his mummy’s tummy. I don’t recognise the young man I see today. That’s not the boy I knew. 

‘What I see now is an angry, petulant, privileged prince who is constantly blaming other people and not taking accountability on his part.’

Mr Burrell said the Duke of Sussex had ‘changed fundamentally’ and that his mother would be ‘appalled’.  

‘She would be angry at these personal, vindictive revelations which don’t just undermine Harry, but his country, his family, the institution – which his mother was very proud of – and his late grandmother’s legacy,’ he said. 

Mr Burrell blamed Harry’s wife, Meghan, for the duke’s ‘vindictive’ behaviour – claiming she was the one ‘driving him behind the scenes’.

He said: ‘This isn’t just a book written by Harry… Meghan’s had a huge influence in this book. She’s beside him steering him on his path. You can’t just blame Harry. You have to blame the both of them.

‘I don’t like to see the rug being pulled beneath the feet of our King and Harry’s brother, who is on his way to being King. And the snipes that have gone forward about Kate [the Princess of Wales]…

‘Kate has never put a foot wrong. But the other side of the story will never be heard because the royals believe there’s great dignity in silence.’

In his memoir Harry said Paul Burrell made his ‘blood boil’ by releasing a book about Princess Diana called A Royal Duty

When Mr Burrell published his book in 2001, he was accused by Harry and William of ‘a cold and overt betrayal’.

In his memoir Spare, Harry describes how he learned of the book when he was working as an unpaid farmhand in Australia aged 19 in 2003 after leaving Eton.

He writes that he received a package from Buckingham Palace, which was full of memos from the Palace communications team about ‘a delicate matter’.

‘Mummy’s former butler had penned a tell-all which actually told nothing,’ he said.

‘It was merely one man’s self-justifying, self-centring version of events.

‘My mother once called this butler a dear friend, trusted him implicitly. We did too. Now this.

‘He was milking her disappearance for money. It made my blood boil.’

Harry writes that he wanted to fly home to ‘confront’ Mr Burrell but Charles and William talked him out of it, saying all they could do was ‘issue a united condemnation’.

The duke also claims that he had ‘nothing to do with the drafting’ of the Clarence House statement and that he would have ‘gone much further’.

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