With the
News of The World featuring close to the top of the pile of Sunday newspapers
on the Queen’s breakfast table, the monarch is in the relatively rare position
of reading about the private life of a former member of her staff rather than a
member of her family this weekend.
It’s reported that Paul Burrell has revealed the end of his 23-year
marriage to the woman who was a constant public support during the past
ten years of turmoil and upheaval.
Speaking to American TV interviewer Daphne Barak, 49-year-old Burrell reveals
for the first time the end of his 23-year marriage, saying of his life at this
time: "It is very difficult...and I don't sleep."
"My
wife and I are not together any more. I don't think I will find anybody like Maria.
It takes time to mend. But at the moment she is with someone. I won't
jeopardise that for her."
Initially a member of the Queen’s household before he moved on to work for
Charles and Diana and, following their 1992 split, the princess alone, Burrell
has also spoken publicly for the first time about his recent appearance at the
High Court inquest into the deaths of Diana and Dodi Fayed.
This resulted in Burrell being torn to shreds yet again by the
British press after he failed to follow through on a request from the coroner,
Lord Justice Scott Baker, that he reveal details from his private diary of "secrets" pertaining to
Diana’s life.
Recalling what was clearly a stressful two-and-a-half day appearance before the court, Burrell tells a second interviewer: "I can
never let go of the princess. I've moved on from the inquest. I'm just really
fretting about how it makes me seem."
