‘Spoiled’ Prince Harry dumped all-important ‘lesson’ taught to him by his mother, claims Princess Diana’s butler

For someone whose life is as public as Prince Harry‘s is now (and has been historically), it’s never too surprising when someone crawls out of the woodwork claiming to have some sort of insight or timely anecdote to explain their behaviors or current circumstances.

Harry has been surrounded by people since he was a child, from the more ordinary family members to the decidedly less normal legions of staff — security, personal, and otherwise. Many of these hangers-ons have opinions about the duke ever since he stepped down as a senior working royal, and some of them often get a platform to share them widely.

One such person is Paul Burrell. Burrell was Princess Diana’s personal butler, purportedly her friend, and is a figure who was present during much of Harry’s childhood through his various roles within the Royal households. Speaking on behalf of a gambling website, Prime Casino, to a number of publications, Burrell claims that Harry has forgotten essential lessons taught to him early on by Princess Diana.

In his statements, Burrell claims that Harry was taught long ago that “the price for a privileged lifestyle is public service.” In living his lavish Hollywood lifestyle, Burrell contends, Harry has forsaken his mother’s legacy and teachings to pursue fame instead. Painting Harry as “petulant” and “spoiled,” Burrell suggests that Harry and Meghan’s goals are to make “themselves as rich as possible in as short a time as possible.”

In his interview, Burrell addresses the scathing Vanity Fair article centered on Harry and Meghan, and despite never having met Meghan Markle, claims to believe everything written about her by her numerous detractors. He goes further and suggests that Meghan is the main driver behind any push for fame and privilege, a lifestyle she has, in Burrell’s words, “long aspired” and which is now possible thanks to her marriage to Harry.

These words coming from Burrell in particular are an absurd proposition. It’s hard to overstate the level of hypocrisy on display here, but let’s have a go anyway. Burrell, who has written a memoir about his time as Diana’s butler — referred to as a “cold and overt betrayal” by Harry and William — has also leveraged his time employed by the Royal Family into a lucrative media career. He has appeared on multiple celebrity-based reality TV series, including three appearances on the U.K.’s popular reality show, I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!

Burrell has given multiple interviews and provided many”exclusives” from his time working for Diana including information from her personal letters, which he made unauthorized copies of, and has positioned himself as a “source” for all sorts of insider Royal intrigue. Taking every opportunity to link himself to the late Princess Diana, Burrell has even claimed her ghost got him together with his now-husband.

Burrell’s actions are certainly not those of someone who hasn’t “long aspired” to fame and privilege, nor do they embody the dedication to public service he claims is lacking in others. While there are certainly valid criticisms to be made of Harry, Meghan, and their individual and joint behaviors and actions, Paul Burrell is the last person who should be criticizing anyone else’s quest for fame.