Meghan wouldn't have been given any preparation for joining the Royal Family, says Paul Burrell

Meghan Markle wouldn’t have been given any preparation when she joined the Royal Family last May, according to Princess Diana’s former butler.

Paul Burrell, 61, who worked with Diana from 1987 until her death a decade later, told Yahoo UK’s ‘The Royal Box’: “Would you believe there is no rule book? There is no etiquette lesson, there are no advisors. Nobody prepares people coming into the Royal Family.

“I think that’s where it’s gone wrong in the past. Not even Diana was given tuition into entering the Royal Family.”

It’s widely believed that Diana, who was just 20 when she married Prince Charles in 1981, found it difficult to adjust to life in the Royal Family.

Burrell says that newcomers “have to rely on their partners to teach them the way forward,” like William and Harry have with their wives Kate and Meghan.

He advised: “It would be good for people coming into the Royal Family to have an overplan of the royal year.”

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Meghan on her first royal engagement with Harry in Nottingham in November 2017. [Photo: Getty]
Meghan on her first royal engagement with Harry in Nottingham in November 2017. [Photo: Getty]

California-born Meghan moved to the UK just a few months before her wedding to Prince Harry in May 2018.

While she has reportedly ‘broken royal protocol’ on occasion, the duchess has been hailed as a ‘breath of fresh air’ for the Royal Family.

The only thing Meghan may have to be careful with in future is not to express her views or beliefs when it comes to issues that err on the side of being political, according to Burrell.

He says: “What comes with maturity is a set of beliefs and they don’t always sit well with the Royal Family. She [Meghan] has to toe the party line.”

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Meghan, Duchess of Sussex rides in an open carriage with Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex during Trooping the Colour in London on June 08, 2019.  This was her first public engagement since the birth of her son Archie.
Meghan and Harry at Trooping the Colour. [Photo: PA]

While the Queen has always remained impartial, heir to the throne Prince Charles has been lambasted in the past, for lobbying the government on issues such as farming, global warming and architecture.

The Duke of Cambridge also recently addressed Brexit during a recent trip to Cumbria, asking farmers if it had affected them.

Prince Charles’ former butler Grant Harrold previously told The Royal Box last year that new members of the royal family usually learn royal etiquette by watching practiced members.

Harrold said: “Meghan will learn from the other members of the royal family, which will be following them round, and copying the way they do things.

“She’s got a wonderful sister-in-law for this, and of course the Queen, because the Queen is the perfect member of the family to follow.”