Princess Diana’s butler diagnosed with cancer amid ‘Spare’ attack

Princess Diana’s butler Paul Burrell has revealed that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year; the grim announcement comes just weeks after he came under attack in Prince Harry’s memoir Spare.

Burrell tearfully shared the news during a recent interview on British TV, during which he revealed that the diagnosis came when he underwent a medical check-up for a TV show, presumably I’m A Celebrity All Stars, last year.

Talking to ITV’s Lorraine Kelly, Burrell said: “I’m tired, you see I’m on hormone therapy, and it is sort of robbing me of my testosterone. So, my beard isn’t growing like it should, I’m tired, and emotional, and I get hot flushes.”

When asked by Kelly when he found out, Burrell shared: “In the summer I had to go for a medical for a TV programme I was doing and their duty of care was that I had a full MOT. And out of that came a surprisingly high PSA, I had no idea what a PSA test was. Apparently, it is a chemical that is released by your prostate gland.”

“So, I went to my GP and he said this is unusual, he examined me and said, ‘you look to be fairly normal’. So, he sent me for an MRI scan and of course that was the window.”

Burrell then went on to share how he has been feeling particularly low over the last months, and that Prince Harry’s attack came as a ‘huge blow’.

“Why did he call me ‘mummy’s butler’? Why couldn’t he have come to me personally and said he wasn’t happy. I’ve always defended him, always, and now I’m thinking, ‘Harry, you’ve lost the plot’. There has been a shift in that man and he’s changed. And I don’t know the answer. I’m saddened by it.”

Burrell served the British royal family for years, first as a footman to the late Queen Elizabeth and then as a butler to the late Princess Diana. He also published a book about his time with Diana, which became Prince Harry’s target in his bombshell memoir.