Burrell mocks Queen Elizabeth

Oct 10, 2006, 14:19 GMT

Paul Burrell, the former butler to Britain's late Princess Diana, has caused outrage by publicly mocking Queen Elizabeth

At the New York launch party of his new range of wines, 'Royal Butler, the Paul Burrell Collection', the former royal servant said the queen spoke in a slow, robotic voice and was "terribly disconnected" from the real world.

Burrell - who has published two books about his life with Diana - shocked onlookers as he imitated her "slow motion" movements.

The 48-year-old took one guest's hand, announced he was going to impersonate the queen and moved and spoke robotically as he said: "So-nice-to-meet-you."

A guest at the party fumed: "Mocking the queen is disgusting, especially in front of a load of Americans who believe all his rubbish.

"The queen will be furious. She won't like being made fun of at all."

The butler, who has made millions by revealing the secrets he learned as Diana's butler, told how the queen once drank from a finger bowl at a royal banquet so not to embarrass a foreign oyal who had mistaken the fingerbowls for tea cups.

Burrell also claimed the queen did not understand the public's grief at the death of Princess Diana.

He claimed the Queen asked him: "Why are all those people crying? They didn't know her. She wasn't in their family."

(C) BANG Media International