Paul Burrell reveals "final" secret

At the end of the book he swore he'd never write, Diana, Princess of Wales's former butler promised in 'A Royal Duty', that he would keep silent on any further secrets between "the butler and the princess". Now, however, Paul Burrell is publishing a second book about his royal employer in which he has revealed the secret he's been attempting to tantalize royal watchers with since 2003.

And so what is the big secret? That the diamond ring Dodi Fayed gave to Diana shortly before their deaths was not meant as an engagement ring, but rather as a friendship ring.

If this fails to surprise readers it is probably because many of those close to Diana have been saying this for the past nine years. It flies in the face of claims made by Dodi's father, Harrods owner Muhammad Al Fayed, who has insisted since the deaths of the Princess and his eldest son that the two were planning to wed and that Diana was pregnant. A recent reopening of the Princess's post mortem report revealed no evidence of a pregnancy.

In his latest anecdotal book, 'Diana, The Way We Were' Paul Burrell writes that, "The world must stop believing Diana and Dodi were due to get married because that is simply not true." He also describes the scene in the Paris hospital when staff left him in charge of the expensive ring writing, "Before we left Nurse Humbert said in broken English: 'I think you should take this.' Either she or Colin [Tebbutt]-- and in the daze of that day I still don't remember who it was -- took my hand, pressed something into my palm and closed my fingers around it."

But Colin Tebbutt and nurse Humbert have a very different story; both saying that they had no recollection of Burrell being left in charge of any of the Princess's jewelry. Police confirmed that the ring was among the items of jewelry handed over to the Spencer family.

A hospital source said, "There would have been no possibility of handing something as valuable as this over to Burrell. It just wouldn't have happened." Hospital staff had also been made aware of the Queen's concern over any of Diana's valuables going missing.

Burrell goes on to say that it was not Dodi who Diana wanted to marry, but that she'd harbored hopes of marrying Dr. Hasnat Khan in a small secretive wedding. A few have suggested that Diana took the short holiday with Dodi in the hopes of making Hasnat jealous. Dr. Hasnat Khan remains one of the few people connected to the Princess who have not "revealed all" in a tell-all book.

With his television appearances, book publications and a soon to be released collection of glass and chinaware, Paul Burrell, who once worked for the Princess Diana Memorial Fund, has become a very wealthy man. He and his brother were arrested in 2001 for suspicion of having stolen and sold personal effects of Diana, Princess of Wales and Prince William. He was cleared in 2002 after the Queen remembered Burrell, who had once served as her footman before going to work for the Prince of Wales, had mentioned to her that he was keeping some of the Princess's possessions in safe keeping.

These items included personal letters, one of which spoke of her concern of being killed in a car crash by her husband, which Burrell included in his first book. Burrell claims he would never have written 'A Royal Duty' if the Royal Family had "stood up for me" during the difficult time. Princes William and Harry were very upset over the publication so it's pretty safe to assume they will not be happy to hear of this second book either, whatever his reasons for having decided to write it.

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