Princess Diana's former butler says she wouldn't have gotten along with Meghan Markle because they're both 'strong, independent women'

• Princess Diana's former butler Paul Burrell said she would have clashed with Meghan Markle because they're "two strong, independent women with different views on things."
• Speaking to Closer Magazine, Burrell added: "It would have been a battle between Meghan's way and Diana's way."
• The former butler, who worked for the princess for a decade, also said that Prince Harry married Markle "because she's like Diana."
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Princess Diana's former butler believes she would have clashed with her daughter-in-law Meghan Markle because they're so alike.

Paul Burrell, who worked for the Princess of Wales for a decade until her death in 1997, also thinks it's for this reason that Prince Harry married Markle.

"I think, possibly, they would have clashed," Burrell told Closer Magazine, as cited by Perth Now.

"I imagine it would have been two strong, independent women with different views on things — it would have been a battle between Meghan's way and Diana's way."

Burrell added: "Harry went for and married Meghan because she's like Diana. Both women who would always stand up for what they believe in and wouldn't be pushovers."

However, Burrell added that the difference between the royal ladies is that "Diana wasn't interested in self-promotion."

"I think the main difference between them is that Meghan has a game plan, whereas Diana was young and naive," he said.

"Diana did the book with Andrew Morton and courted the press over the years because she didn't have a voice.

"And her strong-mindedness meant she cared and she felt the people of the country had a right to know what had gone on behind closed doors.

"You could say Meghan does too," he added, "but I think her courting of the press is more for her career. In years to come, we'll see her on red carpets, with A-list friends, in films perhaps. Diana wasn't like that — she wasn't interested in self-promotion."

It's not the first time that Burrell has opened up about Diana's experience with the British press.

Speaking to Insider's Samantha Grindell in October 2019, the former butler said seeing the Duchess of Sussex's battle with the tabloids is like "witnessing history again."

Markle is currently suing the Mail on Sunday for publishing excerpts from a private letter she wrote to her father shortly after her royal wedding.

"I was with Diana when she was hounded by the media," he said. "Literally packs of photographers ... chasing her like an animal."

Burrell has a history of making controversial statements about his time in the royal household. Speaking on the British reality show "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!" he alleged that Diana feared Prince Charles would have her killed "in order that he can remarry."

He said Diana told him in a letter: "These next few months are the most difficult months of my life. I fear my husband is going to kill me. In an automobile accident with head injuries. In order that he can remarry."

"Her words, her writing, her stationery," Burrell said.

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