Paul Burrell, former royal butler who was accused of stealing Princess Diana’s possessions!

Published on April 8, 2025 | Published By: shahid | In Crime , Interesting Facts , Legal

Paul Burrell, the former British royal butler has several layers of his life. He was the butler of Princess Diana until her tragic death in 1997. However, Prince Harry and Prince William did not hold a good opinion about him.

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Paul Burrell: early life and entry into Buckingham Palace

Paul Burrell was born on 6th June 1958 and grew up in Derbyshire. As a child, he was fascinated about Buckingham Palace and wanted to work there. This desire grew stronger after he visited London and the palace.

Paul completed his course in hotel management and at his age of 18, he started working at the Palace as a footman. One year later, he got the job of Queen Elizabeth II’s personal footman.

Subsequently, he was made the personal butler of Prince Charles and Princess Diana Spencer in 1987 at their Highgrove House residence. He was on this job until Diana passed away in 1997 due to a tragic accident.

Paul was also a friend of Princess Diana until her death. He gained fame at this time.

Accusation of theft

After the death of Princess Diana, there was an inquiry into her accidental death. Paul was queried during this inquest in 2008.

Moreover, Paul was accused of having stolen some of the precious possessions of Diana after her death. Additionally, it was alleged that he had sold these possessions in the market. Prince Harry had talked about how he and his brother William feel about Paul. He said:

“Both my brother and I had very strong feelings about how indiscreet Paul had proven to be with the way he had sold our mother’s possessions and how he had given numerous interviews about her. We firmly believed that she would have expected some privacy in death, especially from someone she had trusted and we were so upset at the way he was behaving- I didn’t want to hear his reasons for it. Therefore, our disagreement over how to handle the situation going forward was not something I wanted splashed across the Defendant’s newspapers, and I had no idea how the Defendant’s journalists obtained the information with the article.”

Paul had appeared on several TV shows. In 2004, he was on season four of I’m a celebrity Get me out of here Australia show as well. He was the second winner after Joe Pasquale in that season.

Paul re-appeared on the show in its South Africa version in 2023. He has also penned several books about the time when he worked for the British royals.

Paul Burrell’s personal life

Paul married Maria Cosgrove in 1984. They had met at the Buckingham Palace where both were working. They have two children together: Alexander and Nicholas.

However, after being with Maria for 32 long years, Paul told her that he has a gay sexuality. They separated.

Paul was dating corporate lawyer Graham Cooper whom he had met in 2007. They wed at Lake District in April 2017.

Doctors diagnosed prostate cancer in Paul. He talked about it in January 2023 adding that he is under treatment for it. In November 2023, he was free of the cancerous cells. He told Lorraine Kelly on her ITV show:

“I will continue with the hormone therapy which is a bit of a pain because I am putting on weight and I am more emotional than usual, and the hot sweats.”

Paul was running a florist shop but he sold it in 2019. He now leads a retired life with his husband and family in Cheshire.

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