‘I could see Diana on the Gold Coast’
IF Princess Diana was alive today, she may well be spending much of her time on the Gold Coast, according to the man described as her “rock” and one of her closest friends.
Former royal butler Paul Burrell in the city this week, 20 years after the beloved Princess was killed in a paparazzi-chase car crash in Paris.
“She’d be an adoring grandmother, she’d be an ambassador around the world, you would have seen more of her in Australia,” he said yesterday.
“There was a time you know, when she briefly thought about coming to live in Australia.
“She was toying with the idea but then she felt, the boys were in boarding school, it’s a day away from emergency – that was the only thing that stopped her.
“I could see her certainly with a property here – I mean it couldn’t be more beautiful than the Gold Coast could it?”
Mr Burrell has been to the region before — appearing on the 2004 series of I’m a Celebrity, Get me Out of Here, filmed near Murwillumbah.
Mr Burrell is on the Gold Coast to promote a charity morning tea at Palazzo Versace, with proceeds going to Youngcare, a charity which supports young people who need high care, who would otherwise be confined to aged care homes.
As the “world’s most famous butler”, he came bearing tips for how Gold Coast hospitality workers could best welcome guests for the Commonwealth Games.
“If Gold Coast pulls out the stops and shows that they are the best – they have the best backdrop to put on the best show – it will reverberate around the world,” he said.
“Keep your standards high, be friendly, smile. The first impression I get from a place is made in the first 10
THERE WAS A TIME YOU KNOW, WHEN SHE (PRINCESS DIANA) BRIEFLY THOUGHT ABOUT COMING TO LIVE IN AUSTRALIA. PAUL BURRELL
minutes – if it’s warm and friendly and happy, you’re going to be happy.
“It’s all about appearance, what you see is what you get and the Gold Coast has it all.”
Despite such a publicly dissected life and death, Diana still has some secrets with her old friend.
“Just before I came away, a national newspaper rang me and said ‘Paul, we’ve been asked by our readers a certain question, can you answer it because we need a frontpage story’,” Mr Burrell said..
“They wanted to know ‘as you were the last person to see Diana, what’s she wearing in her coffin?’.
“I said ‘that’s between me and the princess’. That’s what my life is filled with – lots of secrets which are between me and the princess.”