Prince Harry has slammed Diana’s former butler Paul Burrell for ‘milking’ his mother’s death

Prince Harry was in Australia when he learnt what his mother’s trusted friend had done — and wanted to “confront” him straight away.

Prince Harry says his mother Diana’s former butler made his “blood boil” when he released a book about her following her death.

In his controversial memoir Spare, Harry said Paul Burrell was “milking” Princess Diana’s death for money when he published A Royal Duty — which made a series of private revelations.

Mr Burrell served as the Princs Diana’s butler for a decade, and regularly describes himself as her “best friend”.

Back in 2003 when the book was published, it drew strong criticism from the royal family and led Prince Harry and Prince William to release a statement accusing him of “a cold and overt betrayal”.

Now, in his own book, Prince Harry has revealed he heard of the book when he was working as an unpaid farmhand in Australia aged 19.

A poster advertising the launch of Prince Harry's memoir "Spare". Picture: Getty Images.

He claims he received word via a package from Buckingham Palace, warning him of the “delicate matter”.

“Mummy‘s former butler had penned a tell-all which actually told nothing,” Harry writes.

“It was merely one man‘s self-justifying, self-centring version of events. My mother once called this butler a dear friend, and trusted him implicitly. We did too. Now this.

“He was milking her disappearance for money. It made my blood boil.”

The Duke of Sussex said he wanted to head back to Britain and “confront” Mr Burrell, but Charles and William talked him out of it.

He also claims he had “nothing to do with the drafting” of the Clarence House statement and says he would have gone “much further”.

The Princess Of Wales And Princes William & Harry Attend The Vj Day 50Th Anniversary Celebrations In London. Picture: Getty Images.

On a meeting with Mr Burrell, Harry wrote: “He wanted to give us a piece of his mind?”

Harry said he “anxiously” waited for the meeting but it never happened, writing: ”I didn't know why; I presume the Palace quashed it. I told myself: Shame.

“I thought of that man as the one errant steer that got away that summer.”

It comes as Mr Burrell slammed Prince Harry’s royal rift and says his mother would be “appalled” by his bombshell memoir.

He said he does not “recognise this Harry” and even said his mother would be “appalled” by his actions.

“I felt him kick in his mother’s tummy and I have known him all his life, I don’t recognise the young man I see today. That is not the boy that I knew. Something has changed fundamentally. I think that change is Meghan,” Mr Burrell told Sunrise.

Prince William with Diana, Princess of Wales and Prince Harry. Picture: WireImage.

“What I see now is an angry, petulant, privileged prince who is constantly blaming other people and not taking any accountability on his part. The Princess would be appalled by what she is hearing now.

“She would be really angry at these personal and vindictive revelations that are coming out which do not only undermine Harry but his country, his family, the institution in the monarchy, which his mother was very proud of and his late grandmother’s legacy.”

Mr Burrell said while Princess Diana would’ve wanted Harry to “marry for love”, she would’ve also wanted him to be his “brother’s wing man”.

“She wanted you to be together forever, she wanted you two to support each other through life. And Harry’s job was to help William and his road to being monarch of England and the Commonwealth,” he said.

The brotherly bond has been broken. Picture: Getty Images.

“Harry cannot have everything his own way, he talks about in his book about his mother and finding her through a clairvoyant and that she is happy with the way things are going. I do not believe that, Harry. Your mother would not be happy. You are delusional.”

Mr Burrell even blamed Ms Markle and said she is the “influence driving him behind the scene”.

“This is not just a book written by Harry. Meghan has had huge influence in this book and she is behind him, staring at him on his part. You cannot just blame Harry, you have to blame both of them,” he said.

“I think he is better and angry and he is hurling these comments out to hurt people. He wants to hurt his family and his father and his brother and his sister-in-law, why?

“Because he feels he has been left behind. Harry already is. I always knew he is number two, and he was second place. That is a hierarchy.

“I think he has set out to cause harm and I think the King is reforming the institution and the irony of all of this is if they had just they had just held up for a little bit longer they would now be the nucleus of the royal family, the Fab four and the King and Queen Consort, that is all it would have been and they would have been protected within royal residences and taken care of very well.”

BROTHER’S FEUD SPILLED INTO CHARITY WORK

Prince William was irritated when his brother won permission – and a slice of their shared charity funds – to set up what would become the Invictus Games, according to Prince Harry.

In the book he described how his brother was “sorely irritated” after the Royal Foundation Board, which oversaw their various charitable projects, had awarded Harry around AU$880,000 for the event.

Harry said he quickly realised that Prince William’s displeasure was down to “sibling rivalry”.

“Had we not got past this yet?” the Duke of Sussex wrote.

“The whole Heir versus Spare thing? Wasn’t it a bit late in the day for that tired childhood dynamic?”

Prince Harry said if Prince William insisted on some kind of “private Olympiad” wasn’t he already in the lead, having got married and with a baby on the way, while he was still eating takeaway over a sink at his Pa’s home.

He then detailed how he developed terrifying panic attacks every time he had to go out in public.

He later realised it was post traumatic stress, caused by his “war” which didn’t start with his tours of Afghanistan, but the death of his mother in 1997.

“Hours before a speech or public appearance I’d be soaked with sweat,” Prince Harry wrote.

“I’d be unable to think, my mind buzzing with fear and fantasies of running away.”

He said the panic attacks led to him spending more and more time at home by himself watching TV.

PRINCE HARRY SLAMS WILLIAM FOR DIANA HEARTBREAK

Prince Harry believes Princess Diana would be “heartbroken” that Prince William broke their pact to never let their royal aides fight against each other, stoking the bitter feud between the brothers.

In the latest interview on his publicity tour for his new memoir, the Duke of Sussex criticised how his father handled the death of his mother, saying if he had been comforted and offered professional help that he “probably would have done less drugs” as an adult.

Prince Harry also said Princess Diana would have “realised the missed opportunity” his wife, Meghan Markle, had offered to modernise the royal family, saying there was only still a place for the monarchy today if it tackled its “unconscious bias” that would otherwise “move into racism”.

The Prince refers to his brother Prince William as his “arch-nemesis” in the book, saying the competition between them was fuelled by their “heir-spare” roles and heightened by the British press.

“They pitched the Waleses – which William and Kate are now – against the Sussexes, me and my wife,” he told Good Morning America.

Prince Harry says he and his wife Meghan were pitched against his brother Prince William and his with Catherine by the press. Picture: Samir Hussein

He said the book – which is called Spare – detailed many examples of stories being leaked against him and Ms Markle, including over a dispute about the bridesmaids’ dresses for their wedding.

“While I was writing the book, we were on version 29 or 30, all of which involved my wife supposedly making numerous people within my family cry, which just simply wasn’t the case,” Prince Harry said.

Asked if his mother would be sad about the state of his relationship with William, Prince Harry said: “I think she would be heartbroken that it’s ended up where it’s ended up. I think she would be heartbroken about the fact that William and his office were part of these stories.”

“William and I made a pact, made a deal that no matter what, we would never let our offices fight against each other,” he said.

“The people he employed broke that pact.”

Prince Harry said that “without question”, he was partly responsible for the breakdown of their relationship, but that he had tried to fix it privately before writing his memoir and launching a cross-continental publicity tour.

“I don’t think that we can ever have peace with my family unless the truth is out there,” the Duke of Sussex said.

“There needs to be conversations in order for reconciliation, and part of that has to be accountability.”

The Prince said King Charles was “ill-equipped” to tell him that his mother had died when he was 12, but that as a father himself now, he had “a huge amount of sympathy, compassion and understanding”.

“If you asked me questions like, how would your life have differed if you’d done therapy then, well I probably would have done less drugs. I probably would have drunk less, partied less,” Prince Harry said.

“Not to say I would have partied and done all those things – I probably would have done, but not for the reason that I was doing them. For me, it was either trying to find a feeling or numb a feeling.”

In the book, Prince Harry writes about his proposal for him and Ms Markle to split their time between the UK and Canada while still serving the Queen, which she had publicly approved.

But this was ultimately rejected by the royal family before the Sussexes moved to California.

Prince Harry said this was “really sad”.

“I still to this day believe this was entirely possible,” he said.

Prince Harry to @michaelstrahan on rift with his family: "What people don't know is the efforts that I've gone to to resolve this privately, both with my brother and with my father." https://t.co/3H8haerzWRpic.twitter.com/Fa45y4D3V4

— Good Morning America (@GMA) January 9, 2023

Asked if the Queen had been upset with him, he said: “No, my grandmother and I had a very good relationship. It was never a surprise to anybody, least of all her. She knew what was going on, she knew how hard it was.”

“She never said to me that she was angry. I think she was sad that it had got to that point,” Prince Harry said.

Asked if his family did not understand his situation or simply did not care, Prince Harry said it was “a little bit of both”.

Prince Harry said there was an “enormous missed opportunity” for Ms Markle to modernise the royal family, which he said Princess Diana would have understood.

The Prince, asked if there was still a place for the monarchy today, said: “I genuinely believe that there is – not the way that it is now.”

“I think the same process that I went through regarding my own unconscious bias would be hugely beneficial to them,” Prince Harry said.

“It’s not racism, but unconscious bias if not learnt and grown from, then that can move into racism.”

A poster advertising the launch of Prince Harry's memoir in London. Picture: Leon Neal (Getty Images)

He also revealed he had not spoken to Queen Consort Camilla – who he claims in the book had sacrificed him on her “personal PR altar” – “for a long time”.

Despite the barb, he said he had a “huge amount of compassion for her, being the third person within my parents’ marriage”.

“When I see her, we’re perfectly pleasant with each other,” Prince Harry said.

“I don’t look at her as an evil stepmother. I see someone who married into this institution and has done everything she can to improve her own reputation and her own image for her own sake.”

Prince Harry said returning to the UK would now be “unsurvivable” because of his treatment by the British press, although he said he accepted that “writing a book is feeding the beast anyway”.