Prince William and Prince Harry are set to be united in their approach against a new “bombshell” memoir set to be released by former butler, Paul Burrell, in September. The ex-member of royal staff worked for both Queen Elizabeth II and the late Diana, Princess of Wales and is set to release a “deeply personal and intimate memoir” about his life behind palace walls titled, The Royal Insider.
The book is set to reveal untold stories of his life working for the Royal Family, including an insight into the breakdown of Charles and Diana’s marriage, and his complex relationship with Prince William and Prince Harry. The book comes over two decades after his first memoir was released called A Royal Duty, which was met with anger and upset by the two princes.
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams said the new book will be unlikely to be “approved” of by the princes, who are likely to see this memoir as an “overt betrayal” like the first one.
Mr Fitzwilliams said: “When Paul Burrell published his first memoir, A Royal Duty, Princes William and Harry issued a joint statement calling it “a cold and overt betrayal”. He refused to apologise.
“It is not possible to imagine a joint reply from brothers who are so estranged now. However, neither are likely to approve what Burrell has written.
“His memoir, A Royal Duty, published in 2003, was highly controversial. Whether anyone will believe what he writes in his forthcoming book is another matter.”
Before Burrell’s first memoir was published in 2003, a statement was released by Clarence House on behalf of Prince William and Prince Harry.
As reported by The Guardian at the time, it read: “We cannot believe that Paul, who was entrusted with so much, could abuse his position in such a cold and overt betrayal. It was not only deeply painful for the two of us but also for everyone else affected and it would mortify our mother if she were alive today and, if we might say so, we feel we are more able to speak for our mother than Paul. We ask Paul please to bring these revelations to an end.”
The book still went on to be published. This second memoir, set to be released in September, is said to be an “emotional rollercoaster”.
The Royal Family have not commented publicly on the news of the upcoming book.