A former royal butler has defended King Charles III over allegations made by Charles Spencer.
Princess Diana’s former butler, Paul Burrell, has spoken out against claims made by the late princess’s brother in his recent memoir.
The 68-year-old has insisted that his portrayal of the King, who has a home in the Cotswolds and recently visited Oxford, does not match what he witnessed following Diana’s death.
Mr Burrell made the remarks during an appearance on Piers Morgan’s Uncensored programme, where he challenged passages in Earl Spencer’s book Swan Song: Diana, My Sister.
The memoir reportedly claims that King Charles was “giddy with excitement” after learning of Princess Diana’s death in Paris in August 1997.
Rejecting that account, Mr Burrell said he was present in Paris when the then-Prince of Wales arrived following the tragedy and described a very different scene.
He said: “He speaks about the King being giddy with excitement when Diana died. Well, Piers, I was in Paris; I saw the King.
“He was a broken man. He was devastated.”
The former royal aide went on to describe the King’s appearance at the time, saying he had clearly been crying after spending time with Diana’s family.
Mr Burrell added: “He was pale and he was scared.”
He continued: “I don’t recognise what Earl Spencer says about Prince Charles.”
During the interview, Mr Burrell also criticised the overall tone of the memoir, arguing that it focuses heavily on Earl Spencer himself rather than his sister.
He said he believed the book was “more about Earl Spencer than it is about his sister Diana” and described parts of it as a “rather spiteful revengeful point of view”.
The former butler further questioned how closely the Earl was involved in Princess Diana’s life during her final years.
According to Mr Burrell, the relationship between the siblings had become “fractured”, and he claimed that Earl Spencer was largely absent from the Princess’s day-to-day world.
Mr Burrell said that the final five years of Diana’s life were only briefly covered in the memoir because, in his view, the Earl had limited knowledge of that period.
He also claimed he could “count on one hand” the number of occasions Spencer visited Kensington Palace for lunch during those years.
The comments came as debate continued around Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, which has attracted significant attention for its portrayal of both Princess Diana and members of the Royal Family.
