Paul Burrell, the former butler to Diana, Princess of Wales, said Camilla Parker Bowles "will never be my queen" and reiterated that he always made sure Diana wore her seatbelt. In a new interview with the Daily Mail, Burrell also recounted Diana’s acceptance of an invitation from Mohamed Al Fayed to spend the summer of 1997 in the South of France and offered his perspective on why her death and its aftermath left Prince William "still so confused," according to his remarks.
Burrell said school had broken up for the summer of 1997 when Al Fayed invited Diana to join his family, promising leisure activities for her sons. He told the paper that Diana accepted the invitation despite not being a great fan of Al Fayed, a decision he said reflected the isolation she experienced following her divorce from Prince Charles the previous year. Burrell said he had watched Diana’s relationship with members of the Al Fayed circle develop firsthand and defended his long-standing practice of ensuring the princess used a seatbelt.
Mohamed Al Fayed, the businessman who once owned Harrods, was well known for cultivating relationships with royals and celebrities and for using his Knightsbridge department store as a social hub. Burrell described that public-facing image but also noted a darker side to Al Fayed’s reputation. The businessman died in 2023 at the age of 94.
A BBC investigation in 2024 reported allegations from more than 20 women accusing Al Fayed of rape and attempted rape; some reports have suggested the number of women making allegations could be substantially higher. The BBC said many of those who came forward had worked for Al Fayed and had not previously felt able to report the alleged abuse.
Burrell’s comments come more than two decades after Diana’s death in a Paris car crash in August 1997, an event that has continued to draw scrutiny and debate. In his interview, Burrell sought to reiterate his version of events and his personal loyalty to Diana. He framed the South of France trip as an episode that illustrated her vulnerability after her widely publicized separation from the royal family.
The interview also touched on the emotional legacy of Diana’s death for her sons. Burrell said Prince William remains unsettled by aspects of his mother’s life and death, a state Burrell characterized as persistent confusion. Those remarks reflect long-standing public interest in how Diana’s life and death shaped the next generation of the royal family.
Reporting on Burrell’s comments intersects with the ongoing reassessment of figures who were close to the royals. Al Fayed’s posthumous reputation has been affected by the BBC’s reporting and subsequent public discussion of historic allegations, while memories and accounts from people close to Diana continue to inform public understanding of the period leading up to her death.
Burrell has been a frequent commentator on Diana’s life since her death, and his latest interview reiterates themes he has raised previously: his personal loyalty to the princess, his criticism of figures he views as disloyal to her memory, and his account of events around the time of her final months. The claims about Al Fayed are drawn from broader media and investigative reporting rather than Burrell’s personal allegations; reporting in 2024 attributed the allegations to multiple women and to the BBC investigation.
As public discussion about the royal family’s past continues, Burrell’s comments add to a patchwork of personal recollections and investigative findings that have shaped contemporary assessments of the relationships and decisions that surrounded Diana in the years before her death.