Prince Harry gave Queen Elizabeth II a mobile phone without telling other senior royals so he could reach the monarch directly, former royal butler Paul Burrell claims in his new memoir.
In extracts of The Royal Insider: My Life with the Queen, the King and Princess Diana serialised by the Daily Mail, Burrell writes that the Duke of Sussex sought to bypass palace courtiers and even his own family after he and Meghan Markle announced in January 2020 that they would step back from frontline royal duties.
Burrell, who served as a personal butler to Diana, Princess of Wales, recounts that when the phone arrived at the palace the Queen was bemused. He quotes her as saying, "What am I supposed to do with it?" and says the device was placed in a drawer alongside a similar phone sent by Prince Andrew.
"Unbeknown to his father or brother, Harry had sent Granny a mobile phone with the intention of having a secure line direct to the CEO of the family firm, bypassing not just his family but all her courtiers," Burrell wrote, according to the serialised extracts. Burrell added that the Queen could not be expected to answer a phone at all times and that it would have been inappropriate for it to ring during state business.
Burrell describes the move as one of several examples in which Harry "didn't always adhere to protocol." He also recounts aspects of the Queen's relationship with Harry and efforts by the monarch to maintain a conciliatory approach toward Meghan as tensions within the royal family intensified.
The memoir includes details of the Queen's interactions with Harry and Meghan's children. Burrell says the late monarch met her great-granddaughter, Princess Lilibet, during events surrounding the Platinum Jubilee in June 2022, weeks before the Queen's death at Balmoral. The serialised passages say Harry and Meghan had requested to film the meeting — reportedly for a Netflix project — but the Queen vetoed the idea because of concerns the images could end up in U.S. media beyond the family's control.
Burrell writes that rather than being filmed, the Queen invited Harry, Meghan and their children to a private tea, a gathering that the author says was divisive among other royals present. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex later departed the UK before the Jubilee events concluded. Harry described the children greeting the Queen at that time in his memoir Spare, writing that Archie "made his deep bows" and that Lilibet "cuddled the monarch's shins," which he said prompted the Queen to call them "sweetest children."
The serialised extracts follow years of public disputes between Harry and other members of the royal family after the couple relocated to the United States in mid-2020 and secured a multi-year deal with Netflix. The production and distribution arrangements have since been scaled back from their initial plans.
Paul Burrell, who rose to public attention as one of Diana's closest household aides, has written several books about his time in royal service. The Royal Insider is due for publication on Sept. 11.
The Mail's serialisation is the latest source of new anecdotes and private details about the personal dynamics within the royal family in recent years. The palace has not publicly confirmed the specific anecdote about the phone. Burrell's account is drawn from his personal recollections and observations recorded in his memoir.