Court hears how Prince Harry called Diana's butler Paul Burrell a 'two-face ... trends now
Prince Harry today admitted to calling Diana's former butler Paul Burrell a 'two-face s***' who was 'attention-seeking and self-interested'.
In a witness statement to a High Court hacking trial, the Duke of Sussex, 38, referred to an article published in the People in 2003 shortly after Burrell had been on trial for allegedly selling Diana’s possessions.
After the case collapsed, Prince William had wanted to meet with Burrell, according to the newspaper piece, as ‘the only way to stop him selling more Diana secrets’.
But Harry feared the former servant would simply use it as an opportunity to make money.
Harry told the High Court today: ‘The article accurately sets out the position that my brother was open to fixing a meeting with Paul to discuss his ongoing exposés about our mother.
Princess Diana in central London with her former butler Paul Burrell in 1994
Harry on Paul Burrell
'However I had made up my mind about the kind of person I thought Paul was, and was firmly against meeting him.
‘Both my brother and I had very strong feelings about how indiscrete Paul had proven to be with the way he had sold our mother’s possessions and how he had given numerous interviews about her.’
Harry claimed the People article – which claimed Harry had condemned Burrell - must have been sourced from interception of voicemails, admitting: ‘I would have used the phrase “two-face s***”, as is reported, and believe this could have been lifted directly from a voicemail I had left.’
Barrister Mr Sherborne told the court today: ‘Even at this very early formative stage the seeds of discord between these two brothers are starting to be sown.
'Brothers can sometimes disagree but once it is made public in this way and their inside feelings revealed in the way that they are, trust begins to be eroded and paranoia sets in.’
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