Why One Royal Bride Found Buckingham Palace to Be "Friendless" and "Peculiar," According to a Former Royal Butler
"What she didn't possess was The Queen's iron will."
The Royal Family is an important institution of historical significance, so it makes sense that future spouses might feel nervous about the prospect of becoming royal. According to a former royal employee, one royal bride found Buckingham Palace particularly difficult to navigate for an understandable reason.
In his book, A Royal Duty, Princess Diana's former butler, Paul Burrell, discussed how the former Princess of Wales adapted prior to, and just after, joining the Royal Family.
"The Queen was always accommodating even if she rarely went out of her way to ensure that her prospective daughter-in-law was settled," Burrell shared. "However, adaptability and strength of character are perceived as part of duty, and The Queen herself had had to learn the harsh protocols and isolation of palace life during her childhood."
According to Burrell, the fact that Princess Diana was raised within the nobility, and wasn't a mere commoner, meant she was expected to know how the Royal Family functioned.
"It was assumed that...she would cope with the transition."
"It was assumed that...she would cope with the transition, but where there was assumption there should have been assistance," Burrell explained.
The former butler continued, "What she didn't possess was The Queen's iron will. Essentially a people person, she did not grasp the wholly different way of palace life, which she found friendless, foreign, and peculiar."
"She did not grasp the wholly different way of palace life."
Former butler Burrell also suggested that Princess Diana might have benefited from more support from Queen Elizabeth herself.
"It is ironic that The Queen left her to her own devices out of faith in her: she had adopted the trusting attitude that 'if she needs me, she knows where I am,'" the former royal employee shared. "The monarch had belief in her—even if the future Princess of Wales did not share it."
It's likely that most people would share Princess Diana's trepidation upon joining the Royal Family, with her reaction to Buckingham Palace seeming totally appropriate, in fact.
