King Charles’ letters to the son of one of his late comedic friends have been made public, revealing exactly what the monarch thought of former royal butler Paul Burrell. The King, 77, was good friends with Spike Milligan until his death in 2002.
Their friendship was so strong that Spike spent a great deal of time with Charles, including at various royal residences. However, while the King was sad when Spike died, he ended up forming a friendship with Spike’s son, James Milligan. This happened after James first got in touch with Charles, thanking him for sending a floral tribute to his dad’s funeral in 2002.
Charles then wrote back and spoke about how much he missed Spike and his “particular brand of humour”, even going as far as to say: “They don’t make people like your father any more – sadly!”
As reported by The Mirror, James and Charles then continued sending letters to one another, with the King – when he was the Prince of Wales – being one of the people to encourage James’ pursuit of writing.
The letters were also quite personal, with the King even revealing in one exactly what he thought about the Daily Mirror’s revelations from the royal butler Paul Burrell, including the claim that Princess Diana – who Burrell worked for and formed a close relationship with – feared that her car brakes would be tampered with to cause a crash.
There is no evidence to support this claim.
After Burrell made such a claim to The Mirror, James sent a letter about the allegation to Charles, which was responded to.
In a letter sent by Charles on January 6, 2004, the now King wrote: “You have no idea how touched I was by your wonderfully heartening letter the other day. I don’t know, have I gone mad or has the whole world gone mad? Perhaps all this perpetual hellishness is like steel being forged in the fire and at the end of the day, I will become a better, wiser person.
“Whatever the case, it sure ain’t going to get any easier with the media and its insane circulation war, its chequebook journalism and its totally manufactured ‘stories’. But, as Sir Winston Churchill used to say, I will keep ‘buggering on’. And kind allies like yourself make all the difference.”
Burrell had previously worked for Charles when he was married to Princess Diana, and then went on to work with Diana right up until her death in 1997.
