Prince Harry has ‘changed so much’ from the ‘free, easy going boy’ he once was, says Princess Diana’s former butler

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published 18 February 2023

Princess Diana's former royal butler has criticised Prince Harry's recent behaviour, saying he has 'changed so much' from an 'easy going boy' into a 'very serious and very media-minded' man.

According to Princess Diana's former butler, Prince Harry has become "very serious and very media-minded" despite his earlier "free, easy going" personality.
He has also said "nothing was enough" for Harry even after the late Queen "bent over backwards" to try and accommodate him and his wife Meghan Markle.
In other royal news, Princess Diana's surprising confession over Charles's divorce unearthed in letters sold for thousands.

Paul Burrell, Princess Diana's former butler, has spoken out in the long-lasting aftermath of both Prince Harry's Netflix series, Harry & Meghan, and his tell-all memoir, Spare.

In the memoir, Harry wrote that Burrell had profited from his mother's death when he published his 2001 book, A Royal Duty, which shared private information about the royals.

While the butler has not commented on these claims, speaking to Slingo, he claimed that Harry has changed from a "free, easy going boy" into a "very serious and very media-minded" man.

He criticised the Prince for leaving the royal family and causing them stress even after the late Queen "bent over backwards" to try and keep him and his wife Meghan in the royal family.

He said, "[The Queen] did so many things which are unprecedented to try and get them to fit into the royal family but in vain because it didn’t seem to be enough. "A £2 million property on the royal estate at Windsor didn’t seem to be enough. Royal titles and jewels didn’t seem to be enough.

"To bend over backwards and to take Meghan on her first engagement to Chester wasn't enough, to offer Meghan the chance at having Sophie Wessex to mentor her on her royal programmes weren't enough, to say to Meghan 'you can continue acting if you like, if that's what you want', wasn’t enough.

"Nothing seems to have been enough to make them want to stay, so I think to myself you can try all you like, if they were so minded to leave the royal family, which they were, nothing was going to persuade them to stay."

Burrell also called for Prince Harry to "take accountability" and apologise for the stress he caused his family.

He said, "He’s saying that Camilla sacrificed him on her PR altar. Well, Harry, what have you done to the people whom you’ve talked about in your book? You’ve sacrificed them on your PR altar, used them to generate stories for your book.

"It’s all she did this, he did that. He needs to take accountability for the part he has played and the stress he has caused his family."

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Charlie Elizabeth Culverhouse is a news writer for Goodtoknow, specialising in family content. She began her freelance journalism career after graduating from Nottingham Trent University with an MA in Magazine Journalism, receiving an NCTJ diploma, and earning a First Class BA (Hons) in Journalism at the British and Irish Modern Music Institute. She has also worked with BBC Good Food and The Independent.