This Royal Butler Claimed Princess Diana Predicted Her Death Literally Months Before Fatal Car Crash

When the late Princess Diana took her last breath on August 31, 1997, the news sent ripple effects of grief among her well-wishers. She wasn't just the Princess of Wales, but "the people's Princess" whose death has left a void that could never be filled. Although her demise left people in disbelief, a royal butler claimed Diana prophesized the tragedy months before her passing.

Paul Burrell, Diana's former butler, wrote a book in 2003 A Royal Duty, where he mentioned a letter the late Princess wrote to him nearly ten months prior to her crash, predicting the exact same scenario down to the mode of transport, per Daily Mail. 

Diana detailed her fears in the letter, foreseeing a vindicated Prince Charles planning "an accident in my car," calling that phase of her life the "most dangerous." According to Burrell, the letter dated back to October 1996, merely two months after the late princess divorced her husband Charles. 

"This particular phase in my life is the most dangerous," she wrote. "My husband is planning 'an accident' in my car, brake failure, and serious head injury in order to make the path clear for him to marry Tiggy." Apparently, the letter indicated that the now King Charles used Diana and the now Queen Consort Camilla Parker-Bowles as "a decoy" to marry Tiggy Legge-Bourke (her kids' nanny). 

This equation between Charles and Prince William and Prince Harry's nanny was questioned by Diana's friends including Lucia Flecha da Lima who accused the former butler of forging the letter in the late princess' handwriting. 

At the time of the inquest in 2007, da Lima slammed Burrell, "Paul Burrell was perfectly capable of imitating Princess Diana’s handwriting. I don’t believe she was fearing for her life, especially from Prince Charles, the future king of your country." 

After the inquest was concluded in 2008, the court ruled that Diana's death was indeed an accident caused by the "grossly negligent driving" of her driver Henry Paul, and the paparazzi chasing her and her then-boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed, an Egyptian film producer, in their vehicle. Also, she wasn't wearing the seat belt. 

The royal butler had been the center of attention after making chilling revelations in his book. However, he insisted that he never intended to disclose the "royal secrets" he accumulated in two decades of his service to the princess and the British Monarchy. "I do keep secrets. I'm very loyal … I have never spoken about intimate details of privacies which I've been trusted with. Never," per ABC News. 

He served as Diana's butler from 1988 until her death in 1997, but apparently, he was arrested in January 2001 for allegedly stealing around 300 items from the late princess and the royal family household. Burrell recalled, "I lost control of my world when the police knocked on my door on that morning and they took over." 

Adding, "And suddenly felt myself helpless to protect her, helpless to protect what I had kept safe for so long." The now-65-year-old was put on trial but it eventually collapsed because the late Queen Elizabeth testified the butler told her in December 1997 he was keeping Diana's private possessions for safekeeping.