Diana’s Butler refutes Prince Harry’s claim about not having his mother’s ring

Following Princess Diana’s tragic death in 1997, it was reported that Prince Harry requested to keep his mother’s ring while Prince William selected her Cartier watch.

However, in his memoir, the Duke of Sussex dismissed the reports as “absolutely rubbish.” He clarified his brother William already had the famous 12-carat oval-cut sapphire ring when he proposed to Kate Middleton in 2010.

On the contrary, Paul Burrell, who worked for 10 years for the late Princess, told the Mirror that he was present when the brothers selected the items to remember their mother by.

“Harry said to me, I always remember holding mummy’s hand and that ring hurting me because it was so big,” said Burrell.

“And that’s why, when the boys came to Kensington Palace, I said to them, you must take something of your mother’s, you must take something to remind yourself of your time here at Kensington Palace and your mother’s life.”

He added that William opted for his mother’s Cartier tank watch, which had been a present from her father on her 21st birthday; and Harry went for the ring. He went on to add that William was “not materialistic” and the “flashiest” jewels didn’t attract him.

“What they chose were the two very simple things really – a ring and a watch. Not fantastic jewels. But they meant something to the boys,” said the butler.

In his memoir, the duke had said he never gave his brother the ring since it “wasn’t mine to give. He already had it. He’d asked for it after Mummy died, and I’d been more than happy to let it go.”

Elsewhere, he wrote that former butler had made his “blood boil” when he released a book about her following her death, per Daily Mail.

He said Paul Burrell was “milking” his mother’s death for money when he published A Royal Duty – which made a series of private revelations.