A Royal Duty: The poignant and remarkable untold story of the Princess of Wales

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In this instance, her taking the butler into her confidence and allowing him to have access to personal papers etc, came back to bite him, when he was accused of stealing personal items that had belonged to Diana. Diana got mad at his wife and didn't speak to her for TWO YEARS even though she lived in a cottage on the princess's property.

It is very obvious that mr Burrell dedicated his life to serving HRH princess Diana and being her butler and steady rock. and i think that is a believeable motive, despite the vast sums of money that he has made from the book. Throughout the whole book he is talking how he is the only person who really knew princess Diana, and that he is the only person she trusted. Eventually we reach the Death of the Princess and Paul really comes in to his own and her own comes into his house. He was the Princess' most intimate confidante - and is the only person able to separate the myth from the truth of the Diana years.Such observations should not be interpreted as revolutionary stirrings, for Burrell became devoted to his work, which came with oceans of illicit gin and a nice view of the Mall. in actual fact i found that this was a very even handed account - only mildly sensational and other than that, just a really interesting insight into the way the royal family functions. It was interesting seeing first impressions of Princess Diana joining the family, and what it was like for him to switch over to working for the Prince and Princess of Wales. I think the emotional dependence on both Paul's and Diana's side was way too big and that was the problem. Ultimately, he became the trusted personal assistant and confidante to the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

I am rather convinced that mr Burrell was indeed innocent and that the Spencer family was behind it.Overall, that was an interesting and emotional read but a lot of parts concerning Diana were quite unsettling and even controversial in a sense. He admits several times that he was a crappy husband and father, because he spent so much time with Diana. i think it is more a factor of an obsessed man who knows deep down that his main importance is in association with diana - without that he becomes little more than an expert on royal etiquette. Prince Charles doesn't squeeze his own toothpaste (for real), throws books when he has a tantrum and shouts, petulantly, "I'm going to be King. Not quite, for Paul Burrell still boasts that he is keeping a secret from Princess Diana and he is not willing to share this secret.

However it does get very annoying when he makes a big deal out of the fact that the late Princess allegedly disclosed some huge secret to him and then childishly refuses to tell the reader (or the inquest into the Princess' death for that matter) what that secret is. This book is an autobiography about Paul Burrell, the butler of Princess Diana, one of the most influential women of our time. Burrell seemed to have gotten caught up the cycle so much so that he put his own family on the back burner so he could be as involved as possible in the daily life of Diana.Change country: -Select- Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Bahamas Bahrain Barbados Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil British Virgin Islands Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Islands Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Cook Islands Cyprus Czech Republic Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia Gabon Republic Gambia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Namibia Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Niue Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Republic of Croatia Republic of the Congo Reunion Romania Saint Helena Saint Kitts-Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands South Africa South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Suriname Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City State Venezuela Virgin Islands (U. I think Mr Burrelk also raised some very interesting points about Diana's involvement with the Andrew Morton book and the panorama interview, that I'd not previously considered - she did them at very low points in her life, when she and it were in great turmoil. I was going to say he doesn't have the common touch, but I'd be wrong, he has Camilla, and you can't get more common than that.

Loved this book from the first page and it was such an insight into life working for the Royal family and the life of Diana Princess of Wales. Insofar as Burrell gives details into the royal palace and life therein, it's an interesting read for the novelty value. I thought it would be some what controversial due to the publicity it gained during its release (think: bad mouthing of the royal family and them being portrayed as cold and some what heartless). I didn't figure out why until the end, because I didn't realize that he'd been taken to court (supposedly by the Royal Family, but actually by the Spencers), and accused of stealing from Diana's estate. A princess who was selfish and needy and mentally unbalanced who went over the line in her dependence on and confiding in her butler and a butler who went over the line in protecting and becoming obsessed with a princess.He speaks about her as though she were a goddess, even while admitting that she could be rather capricious and even bitchy. most would assume the book would be about princess diana (the cover most definitely leads you to believe it) but it’s about her butler (paul burrell) and his life, before and after her. Definitely would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Princess Diana or enjoys reading about the British royalty. It just makes her that much more special, because she was the monarch that changed how everyone saw monarchs; she set a precedent that maybe, actually, a figure of the government could actually give a damn. Mr Burrell hasn't diffused all the mystery surrounding the princess' legacy either, because he dropped many hints of secrets he is keeping for her.