Diana ‘would have made Harry apologise to Charles’, claims Paul Burrell, who says his bond with Wills is a ‘lost cause’
PRINCESS Diana would have made “Harry apologise to Charles”, according to former royal butler Paul Burrell.
The Duke of Sussex flew to the UK this month for a three-day visit, but didn’t meet up with his father or brother, Prince William.
Paul, who worked as Princess Diana’s butler until her death in 1997, said the late royal would have acted as a peacemaker between Harry and the rest of the family.
Speaking to Bella, the former staff member said: “There’s no love lost between Diana and Charles, but what was important to Diana is that both boys should have been influenced by both parents and she would have wanted them to respect their father.
“She would have made Harry apologise to Charles, and Diana would have been the broker of that – she was always the peacemaker.
“She wanted the four of them to stay together. It broke her heart when that disintegrated.”
Paul added: “The boys would have been glued to their mother and her word would have been final. Now there is nobody to sort them out, I’m afraid it’s a lost cause.”
During his UK trip, Prince Harry celebrated the 10-year anniversary of his Invictus Games – hosted for injured servicemen – at St Paul’s Cathedral.
Noticeably absent were King Charles and Prince William, although Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, and Diana’s sister Lady Jane Fellowes, were in attendance.
Prince Harry’s spokesperson released a statement about why he wasn’t meeting up with his father during the UK trip – but it made no mention of William.
It read: “It unfortunately will not be possible due to His Majesty’s full programme.
“The Duke of course is understanding of his father’s diary of commitments and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon.”
Harry did not see his brother Prince William – but had been “keen” to see his dad while visiting and was left “deeply stung”.
In further upset, Prince Harry was said to be “in tears” when he found out that Charles had given trained pilot William the new military honour of the Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps, the same day he landed in the UK.
Harry, who trained as an Army Air Corps and served with them in Afghanistan, is said to have taken it as a “tremendous insult.”
If Harry and wife Meghan had not stepped down as working royals then it is thought the ceremonial appointment would have been his.
Harry and Charles last reunited at Clarence House in February for their first face-to-face meeting in 16 months.
The prince flew to the UK alone without Meghan or their children Archie and Lilibet.
William has been stung by his brother’s attacks and has not spoken to Harry since Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.
This follows Harry slamming his family in his bombshell Spare memoir, and criticising the royals in their Harry & Meghan documentary.
Harry's upset over William's new military position
Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told The Sun:
It is absolutely no doubt [a snub towards Harry].
I think that Harry will be distressed by this.
Undoubtedly it’s something that he’s takes very personally, we know that what he’s done for the military family, for the Invictus games, which is a wonderful thing, and of course this featured a great deal in their visit, which was private to Nigeria.
But the fact simply is that the King is making somebody he trusts colonel in chief.
I mean this can generously be described as a mess, but it’s a serious issue, because it it tends to show that communication has gone totally haywire, and that’s a generous interpretation of it.
I frankly can see why the Sussexes haven’t been trusted.
Charles, 75, resumed public duties this month for the first time since beginning cancer treatment.
During Harry’s trip, the King met members of the public at a Buckingham Palace garden party just over two miles away.
Sources claimed the monarch had agreed to let his distant son stay in a royal residence for the trip – but the offer was turned down.
Charles reportedly had agreed to put Harry up at a secret royal residence knowing he does not have a UK base, according to The Telegraph.
Harry said no because it would leave him staying in a “visible location with public entrance and exit points and no police protection”, it has been claimed.
Harry ended up staying in a hotel, which he could leave unnoticed.
A timeline of Prince Harry's family feud
The first hints of friction reportedly came after William was introduced to Meghan when she was staying at Kensington Palace.
Once she’d returned home to Canada, William and Harry sat down for a brother-to-brother chat.
He knew Harry was already head-over-heels for her but it has been claimed he advised him to take it slowly.
The younger prince reportedly didn’t take too kindly to the advice, with one royal source saying he “went mental”.
Then in June 2019 Harry and Meghan officially split off from the charity they shared with William and Kate.
The Royal Foundation will be divided between the Sussexes and Cambridges as the couples focus on their own separate charitable endeavours.
Prince William and Prince Harry first established the Royal Foundation in 2009 before Kate joined two years later shortly after their engagement was announced.
The trio would often appear together at events and the Foundation had huge successes with projects like the Invictus Games for injured veterans and the mental health Heads Together campaign.
The Royal Foundation said the decision was made following the conclusion of a review into its structure – but added both couples will continue to work together in the future.
Harry and Meg were living in close proximity to Kate and Wills within the Kensington Palace estate, but they switched to Frogmore Cottage in Windsor before baby Archie was born.
The move further increased rumours of a fallout.
Harry, 39, also hinted in his ITV documentary “Harry and Meghan, An African Journey” that he and his brother had grown apart.
In 2021, Harry and Meghan give their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey where Harry accused his dad of cutting him off financially.
Harry then jetted back to UK to join William in unveiling a statue to their mother Princess Diana in the grounds of Kensington Palace. But sources claimed William didn’t want to attend the memorial amid their ongoing rift.
In 2022, just before their grandmother the Queen died, sources claimed Kate acts as a “peacemaker” between the brothers.
Harry claimed his brother “knocked him to the floor” during an argument about Meghan, in his memoir.
In Spare, Harry said William branded Meghan “rude” and “difficult” during a row.
Harry alleged William “grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and … knocked me to the floor”.
He said he was left with a visible injury to his back following the argument in 2019 at Nottingham Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace, where he was living at the time.
In January this year, Harry flew in to be with Charles after the monarch’s shock cancer diagnosis.
Harry flew back to the US the following day – without seeing Wills.