\n\tWell, that\u2019s what Princess Diana\u2019s butler, Paul Burrell, is claiming in his upcoming book, The Royal Insider: My Life with the Queen, the King and Princess Diana<\/a>, out Jan. 13, 2026. Even though he believes that Meghan \u201csaved\u201d Harry after the death of his mother, he also thinks that the Duchess of Sussex\u2019s lack of understanding of royal hierarchy was their downfall.<\/p>\n \t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \tRelated story<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tHow Meghan Markle Will Need To \u2018Shock\u2019 Audiences To Boost Her Show\u2019s Low Ratings, per Expert\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tIn an excerpt of the book, obtained by the Daily Mail<\/a>, Burrell explained how Harry and Meghan\u2019s first home<\/a>, Nottingham Cottage, became a problematic source of irritation for them. William and Kate had lived there in \u201cthe early days of their marriage,\u201d and he described it as \u201csmall but cosy and enough for a couple embarking on a journey through life.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tPrince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge are seen at Daystar Evangelical Church on March 26, 2022 in Great Abaco, Bahamas. \n\tStill, the \u201cfairy-tale cottage wasn\u2019t a royal residence,\u201d and Burrell thinks a dinner hosted by Kate and William at their apartment in Kensington Palace started all of the fuss. Calling the Nottingham residence \u201ca far cry from the two-bedroom cottage only 200 yards away,\u201d the former palace staffer hinted that \u201cthe problem was that Meghan would always have second billing to the future Queen Catherine. Being American, she struggled to understand the culture of the Royal establishment with its rules and protocols.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe Duke and Duchess of Sussex had a different view than Burrell, though. They discussed their time at Nottingham Cottage in their Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cAs far as people were concerned, we were living in a palace and we were\u2026 in a cottage,\u201d Harry said.<\/p>\n \n\tMeghan added, \u201cSo small. Kensington Palace sounds very regal<\/a>, of course, it does. It says \u2018palace\u2019 in the name. But Nottingham Cottage was so small. [Harry] would just hit his head constantly in that place because he\u2019s so tall. It was just a chapter in our lives where I don\u2019t think anyone could believe what it was actually like behind the scenes.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThey eventually renovated Frogmore Cottage at Windsor, which was a gift from Queen Elizabeth II for their wedding. King Charles III eventually evicted them<\/a> from the home after the couple had repaid taxpayers from the construction fees \u2014\u00a0and then Charles reimbursed them. The royal real estate snafu was chaotic, but it certainly wasn\u2019t the root of the couple\u2019s issues.<\/p>\n \n\tAfter leaving the royal family<\/a> five years ago, the couple has settled into their new life in California, but Harry is itching to reconcile with Charles,<\/a> who is battling cancer. William is reportedly fighting the reconciliation, but royal insiders are hopeful that the monarch can make peace with his youngest son.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThere\u2019s no point in continuing to fight anymore,\u201d the Duke of Sussex told the BBC<\/a> in May, \u201cI don\u2019t know how much longer my father has.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"With](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/With_Love_Meghan_n_S2_E5_00_19_21_06R.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"GREAT](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-1387843883.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSamir Hussein\/Wireimage via Getty Images<\/p>\n
![\"Kate](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Kate-Middleton-Prince-William-Prince-Harry-Meghan-Markle.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, SheKnows may receive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402995,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7708],"tags":[7709,12389,7721,7719,7718,7720,1281,447,7710,519,7711],"class_list":{"0":"post-402994","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-royals","8":"tag-british-royal-family","9":"tag-celebrity-homes","10":"tag-duchess-of-sussex","11":"tag-duke-of-sussex","12":"tag-harry","13":"tag-meghan","14":"tag-meghan-markle","15":"tag-prince-harry","16":"tag-royal-families","17":"tag-royal-family","18":"tag-uk-royal-family"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115158138649829318","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402994\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}