> Skip to content
A Royal Duty
  • Published: 7 June 2004
  • ISBN: 9780141905846
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 448

A Royal Duty

The poignant and remarkable untold story of the Princess of Wales



The untold story behind one of the most sensational chapters in the history of the House of Windsor. Paul Burrell fought to clear his own name. Now he reveals new truths about Princess Diana – and presents for the first time as faithful an account of her thoughts as we can ever hope to read. He was the favourite footman who formed a unique relationship with the Queen. He was the butler who the Princess of Wales called ‘my rock’ and ‘the only man I can trust’. He was accused of theft, then acquitted following the historic intervention of the monarch. He was the Princess’ most intimate confidante – and is the only person able to separate the myth from the truth of the Diana years. Now at last Paul Burrell cuts through the gossip and the lies and takes us closer to the complex heart of the Royal Family then ever before.

  • Published: 7 June 2004
  • ISBN: 9780141905846
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 448

About the author

Paul Burrell

Paul Burrell served the Royal Family for twenty-one years, having arrived at Buckingham Palace as an eighteen-year-old footman in 1976. Within a year, he had been appointed the Queen's personal footman, and he spent ten years by Her Majesty's side at all royal residences and on the Royal Yacht Britannia. In 1987, he became butler to the Prince and Princess of Wales at their country residence, Highgrove. He remained there until the couple's separation in 1992, when the princess requested that he move to Kensington Palace as her butler. Of all the servants, staff and protection officers who ever worked for the princess, Paul was the only one who remained by her side until her death in 1997. Following that tragedy, he was honoured by the Queen with the Royal Victorian Medal in recognition of his loyalty and service to Diana, Princess of Wales. He was also appointed fundraising events manager to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, spearheading the drive that raised 100 million pounds in her memory. He is married to Maria and they live in Cheshire with their two sons, Alexander and Nicolas.