18 February 2023 , 09:00
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Princess Diana's former butler Paul Burrell has admitted the late princess had some secrets that "weren't pretty" - but they should be shared with her warring sons Prince William and Prince Harry.
The former royal servant who Diana described as her "rock" is bravely battling prostate cancer, but said his diagnosis had left him fearing he will run out of time to "tell them the truth".
In an exclusive interview with the Mirror, he now says he wants to meet the warring princes to share these secrets with them - before he dies.
And he believes that his former boss would have told him: "Paul, you must make this a priority. You must go and see my boys."
Paul Burrell with Princess Diana in 1997 - not long before her untimely death (Rex Features)Paul, who is preparing for surgery later this month, said his illness has left him contemplating several private moments with the late Princess of Wales where she confided in him during her darkest days.
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Speaking from the immaculate home he shares with husband Graham Cooper in Tarporley, Cheshire, he said: "My illness has focused my attention on telling the boys things before it's too late - telling them what they really should know.
"I know some of it isn't pretty, but if I leave this place and go somewhere else they'll never know.
"I think they should know."
Diana with her sons William and Harry (UK Press via Getty Images)Paul was diagnosed with cancer during a routine medical last summer, revealing an unusual prostate-specific antigen (PSA) reading in his blood.
And as he focuses on the battle ahead Paul said his focus would be to raise awareness of the disease while vowing to "try and do my bit" to mend the bitter rift between Diana’s beloved boys.
He said: "Wouldn't it be wonderful to see the boys repair their relationship and to be back where they should be back.
"The public would love that. I'd applaud that.
"I'd love to see William put his arm around his brother, but I don't think we're going to see that because there are too many obstacles in the way."
The brothers at the unveiling of a Diana statue in 2021 (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)Paul said the country must now get behind King Charles but also look forward to a new era with William and Kate waiting in the wings.
In the past Paul described himself as Princess Diana's "best friend" and claimed that she described him as "the only man she ever trusted", later leaving him £50,000 in her will he used to set up a florist in his former village in Farndon, Cheshire.
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This trust he said led him to protect her secrets from the royal family after her tragic death in a Paris tunnel in 1997, adding: "I don't have an edge, I want just to say the truth.
"There are things that happened in their mother's world, which they may not have no knowledge of.
"If we ever sat down, I would say to William, this is within these walls and will never come out of these walls."
Paul has spoken exclusively to the Mirror (Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)Paul added how he feels now is the right time to speak to Diana’s beloved sons in a bid to bring them closer together - despite admitting his sadness at being "dismissed" as "mummy’s butler" in Prince Harry’s explosive memoir, Spare.
He said: "(Harry) has discarded me, but he hasn't thought about all of those years that I spent with his mother, in private, loving her, caring for her, watching out for her.
"I've been dismissed and I'm very sad about that."
He continued: "You look at William and Harry as an 11-year-old and 14-year-old walking behind their mother's coffin, the nation saw that the nation witnessed that and our hearts broke for those two boys.
“That path should have been the same path from then on. That's what Diana would have wanted.
“For the two boys to be stuck side by side for the rest of their lives. Her death should have glued them together forever, but it didn't.”
Paul also spoke of his dream to meet for the first time the new Princess of Wales, after sitting down with the future king, adding: “I would love to meet her.
“I would love to shake her hand and just say you're doing everything perfectly well.”
As he gears up for his treatment journey, Paul said he wants to warn other men like him and those over 50 to go for a check-up, which could save their life.
He said: “I must be one of millions of men in this country who have never heard of PSA.
“So, now you do listen to what I'm saying to you. Your loved ones would want you to take a blood test - you owe it to them.
“You owe it to the people around you to live longer and be there for them.”
Paul Burrell did not receive payment for this interview.