It’s Diana’s rock... and his new husband
Former royal butler marries his ‘soulmate’ in tartan kilt inspired by his colourful past
HIS first marriage was marked by a Buckingham Palace telegram and a gift from the Queen.
Wedding presents from the Palace were not expected at Paul Burrell’s second marriage, following two decades of tell-all revelations about his life as Princess Diana’s butler.
But the 58-year-old wept with joy as he married his ‘soulmate’ Graham Cooper in a same-sex ceremony on Sunday, decked out in tartan and reminders of his former royal employers. The father-of-two only publicly acknowledged he was gay last month, when he announced he was to wed his long-term partner Mr Cooper.
He was previously married to Maria Cosgrove, the mother of his two grown-up sons, but the pair announced their divorce last year after living separately for years.
Mr Burrell, who famously claimed Diana had called him her ‘rock’, wept as he exchanged wedding rings with Mr Cooper, a corporate lawyer whom he met ten years ago. Speaking after the ceremony, he said: ‘Everything about the day has been perfect, made even more wonderful by the fact my two sons were here to share in the occasion.
‘There’s no more hiding my unbridled happiness now. Life is about being true to who you are and, for the first time ever, I’m able to stand proudly beside my husband and say “This is who I am”.’
Mr Burrell, who has been accused of cashing in on his links with Diana, ensured his former royal connections were not forgotten at the ceremony in the Lake District.
He wore a treasured set of blue cufflinks she gave him, bearing a crown above the letter ‘D’, and a medal awarded to him by the Queen.
His Royal Victorian Medal – awarded in 1998 for his service to the late Princess of Wales – was pinned to a Highlands- style outfit designed from a striking tartan which also paid tribute to his royal connection.
Mr Burrell commissioned the tartan in 2006 and chose to include two grey lines to represent his two sons Alex and Nick, with the colour grey chosen to commemorate Diana’s description of him as her ‘rock’, according to the Scottish Tartans Authority (STA) records. Two shades of green in the tartan ‘celebrated his appearance on the TV programme I’m a Celebrity…’, the official register said.
Mr Burrell, who was born and raised in Grassmoor, Derbyshire, commissioned the tartan for ‘personal and corporate use’ and it was used on promotional items marketed in the US as part of his ‘Royal Butler’ range, according to the STA.
A spokesman said Mr Burrell’s mother was descended from the Macmillan clan and his tartan was adapted from a traditional Macmillan tartan.
He told guests he had chosen his outfit to celebrate ‘the people of my life’ and his partner Mr Cooper, 58, wore trousers and a tie made from the same tartan. The pair met on a train from London to Crewe more than a decade ago and Mr Burrell said he knew immediately he had found his ‘soulmate’.
He had never publicly acknowledged he was gay and they kept their relationship a secret until announcing their wedding plans last month, despite living together in a
‘She would have been proud of you’
mock-Tudor house in Cheshire. They exchanged vows at a five-star hotel, Linthwaite House in Bowness, overlooking Windermere.
The couple were married by a registrar in the hotel’s billiards room after walking in hand- in- hand to Barbra Streisand’s Some Enchanted Evening.
During the ceremony, Mr Burrell broke down as he read his vows, saying: ‘We will grow together in love and wherever life may take us.’ His son Alex, 27, gave a reading and the newlyweds danced out of the ceremony to Kylie Minogue’s Better the Devil You Know. Sixty guests enjoyed a three- course wedding dinner, including pot-roasted breast of Goosnargh chicken. Mr Burrell’s younger brother Graham, 52, paid tribute to their late mother and Diana in a speech. He said: ‘If they were both here today, they’d be as proud of you and happy for you as everyone else is in this room.’ Mr Burrell’s sons flew in from the US to attend, although their mother Maria, 62, who lives in Florida, was not among the guests. The pair, who met when Miss Cosgrove was working as a maid to the Duke of Edinburgh and Mr Burrell was a footman, married in a traditional white wedding in 1984, when the Queen and Prince Philip sent them a pair of monogrammed Coalport candlesticks and a telegram reading: ‘Wishing you every possible happiness for the future, Elizabeth and Philip.’ The Burrells moved to the US after he was wrongly accused of stealing hundreds of items from the royal household, after the death of Diana. His 2002 trial collapsed after an 11thhour intervention from the Queen. His 2003 tell-all memoir, A Royal Duty, led to a rift with the Palace and Princes William and Harry accused him of betraying their mother’s confidences.