- Former royal butler Paul Burrell said he could spill
even more beans about the private life of Princess Diana, as he hit the
airwaves to defend his memoirs of his years of service to her.
-
- "The point of doing this book is to actually correct
the myths, the untruths, the lies," said Burrell as the first 135,000
copies of "A Royal Duty" hit the bookshops in Britain.
-
- One million copies went on sale in the United States
on the weekend, amid outrage from Prince William and Prince Harry -- the
late Diana's sons with Prince Charles -- that Burrell was betraying royal
confidences.
-
- Interviewed on BBC radio, Burrell said Monday that his
book was in the "national interest," not damaging to the British
royal family, and misunderstood by the young princes.
-
- He renewed his offer to meet face to face with them "to
ask them a few questions" and "to give them a piece of my mind"
as to why they did nothing when he was put on trial for allegedly stealing
Diana's belongings.
-
- The criminal trial in London collapsed in November 2002
when Queen Elizabeth II let it be known that she was aware that Burrell
had held on to some of Diana's possessions after her death in August 1997
in a Paris car crash.
-
- Burrell said his book "brings into light a loving
tribute" to Diana, whose marriage to Charles was dissolved in August
1996 after a lengthy and sensational separation.
-
- But he refused to rule out further revelations.
-
- "I never thought I would write this one," he
said, as he took to the radio and television airwaves to promote the book.
-
- "I have no plans at this time to write another book
-- but I don't know what the future holds."
-
- The most sensational revelation in "A Royal Duty"
is a claim by Burrell that he received a letter from Diana, 10 months before
her death, in which she referred to a supposed plot to kill her.
-
- She allegedly wrote that her life was at its "most
dangerous" phase, and that she feared that somebody -- Burrell did
not say who -- was planning "an accident" in her car.
-
- Diana died in a Parisian underpass in a chauffeured limousine
at the side of her lover Dodi Fayed, whose father is Mohammed al-Fayed,
owner of the Harrod's department store in London and the Ritz hotel in
Paris.
-
- French investigators said the high-profile couple were
the victims of a traffic accident caused by their driver, who was driving
under the influence of alcohol, but the elder Fayed still suspects that
foul play was involved.
-
- William and Harry, both students, launched an unprecedented
attack on Burrell last week, accusing him of a "cold and overt betrayal"
of their mother as "A Royal Duty" was serialized in the Daily
Mirror, a London tabloid.
-
- William, 21, and Harry, 19, said last Friday that Diana,
who died in a 1997 car crash in Paris, would have been mortified at his
revelations, which also included details about her lovers.
-
- Queen Elizabeth seemed unfazed by the whole affair Monday
when, beaming with delight, she unveiled the first public statue of a reigning
British monarch in more than a century.
-
- The 3.81 meter (12-1/2 foot) bronze statue, in Windsor
Great Park, west of London, near one of the queen's residences, portrays
her riding a horse. It was erected to mark her half-century on the throne.
-
- Charles, who as her eldest son is heir to the British
throne, meanwhile began Monday his first visit to India since he was there
11 years ago with Diana at his side.
-
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