CONTACTAbout UsCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2025 Equal Entertainment LLC.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
We need your help
Your support makes The Advocate's original LGBTQ+ reporting possible. Become a member today to help us continue this work.
Your support makes The Advocate's original LGBTQ+ reporting possible. Become a member today to help us continue this work.
Intimate letters written by the former personal butler to Princess Diana are to be sold by an Australian man who claims to be his ex-lover. Starting Tuesday, antiques dealer Gregory Pead will display 53 items at his shop in eastern Australia, including handwritten letters, photographs, and postcards he claims were sent to him by royal butler Paul Burrell. The letters, dated in the early 1980s, contain Burrell's candid thoughts about working for the royal family as well as declarations of his love for Pead, Pead's business partners said Monday. "They are love letters; some of them can make you blush," said Lorraine McConnell, a co-owner of the Times Past Collectibles store on the Gold Coast, a resort area 60 miles south of the Queensland state capital of Brisbane. Burrell, who married in 1984 and has two sons, has never acknowledged having a relationship with Pead. The former butler stood trial last month on charges of stealing hundreds of items from the late princess's estate. The trial collapsed when Queen Elizabeth II confirmed that Burrell had told her he was holding some of the items for safekeeping. Burrell then began granting interviews to the British media, talking about life inside the palace and embarrassing the royal family. In a letter to Pead, dated March 1981 and released Monday, Burrell describes being suspended for several days during an investigation into reports of homosexuality among staff aboard the royal yacht Britannia. "The Queen was informed, and when I returned to work she discussed it with me," Burrell says in the letter. "She said she was 'so pleased' I was able to return to work and 'this awful business' was over.... Now that my boss knows, I have nothing to worry about--do I?" the letter continues. Other letters--which are written in fountain pen on palace stationery--provide descriptions of Princess Diana's wedding dress a week before she was married to Prince Charles as well as security measures for a royal event, Pead's business partners said. Rick Andrews, co-owner with Pead and McConnell of the antiques store, said he can see no reason why the private letters should not be sold. "They are no good anymore, and he [Pead] doesn't want them," Andrews said. "I would say they will go on the market and it depends what the market is prepared to pay for something like that. Are they worth a dollar each or $10,000 [U.S. $5,600] each? You never know."
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
Watch Now: Pride Today
Latest Stories
Donald Trump threatens to revoke Rosie O'Donnell's citizenship — but he can't
July 12 2025 6:04 PM
Ahead of deadly Texas floods, so many warnings from climate scientists were missed
July 12 2025 7:00 AM
Louisiana Medicaid quietly stops reimbursing patients for gender-affirming care
July 11 2025 3:35 PM
Harvard seemingly caves to Trump, shuts down LGBTQ+ and women's center websites
July 11 2025 3:08 PM
11 lesbian & sapphic reality dating shows & where to watch them
July 11 2025 12:49 PM
Yes, Superman is an immigrant. He's also a gay icon.
July 11 2025 12:31 PM
15 best LGBTQ-friendly all-inclusive resorts for honeymoons
July 11 2025 12:29 PM
Trump's DOJ subpoenas doctors and medical clinics that care for transgender youth
July 11 2025 9:36 AM
True
After trans people, Trump now erases bisexual people from Stonewall National Monument
July 10 2025 10:45 PM
Black trans woman Dream Johnson killed in Washington, D.C.
July 10 2025 7:59 PM