Meghan Markle could have been advised by Princess Diana in how to navigate life in the Royal Family, according to a former royal staff member who worked closely with the late Princess of Wales.
Paul Burrell, who worked for several years as a royal butler, believes Diana would have “embraced” her daughter-in-law and taught her how to survive life in the royal spotlight.
The Princess was killed in a car accident in Paris in 1997, two decades before Meghan announced her engagement to Diana’s youngest son Prince Harry.
In 2020 the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped down from their roles as working royals and relocated to California, and their relationship with the Firm has been strained ever since.
Mr Burrell told the Mirror that Diana would have taken Meghan “under her wing and educated her” when her and Harry first started dating.
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He explained that with Diana on their side, the Sussexes may even have been persuaded not to leave the UK and their royal life behind them.
The former butler said: “I think Diana would have embraced Meghan I think she would have tried to understand her. Diana loved America, she loved Americans. And she understood it was a different culture.”
Mr Burrell also claimed that the Princess had even planned to start a new life in America herself and had her eye on a home in Malibu, California, close to where Harry and Meghan now live in Montecito.
He added: “Diana was thrilled at the thought of going to live for some of the year in America. There was no way she would have decanted full time because she was proud of her association with the Royal Family.
“But she thought a bolthole as somewhere to escape to, she would love to escape to America.”
Meghan is a California native, something Mr Burrell believes Harry would have seen as an advantage due to his mother’s “fondness” for the country.
He said: “In his own way, he’s [Harry] thought well, Meghan’s American and my mum would have loved Meghan.
“Yes, she would have loved Meghan. She would have embraced her. She wouldn’t have agreed with everything that’s happened since but in the initial days she would have encouraged her, educated her and embraced her.”
Harry said in their Netflix documentary series that he always saw similarities between Meghan and his beloved late mother, however one body language expert has disputed this to some degree.
On his YouTube channel, Believing Bruce claims that while Diana was known to be “strongly trying to get her and the kids out of the cameras”, Meghan is more open to being in the limelight.
