Paul Burrell contradicts Prince Harry's claims about Kate Middleton's engagement ring

Princess Diana's former butler Paul Burrel contradicted Prince Harry's revelations in "Spare" wherein he said that he did not take his mother's engagement ring as a memento but Prince William did.

The former aide, who worked for the princess for ten years up until her death in 1997, said he clearly remembers that day when the brothers chose something of their mother's to remember her by. He said he watched them pick out items from her jewelry collection.

He told the Mirror, "Harry said to me, 'I always remember holding mummy's hand and that ring hurting me because it was so big.' And that's why, when the boys came to Kensington Palace, I said to them, you must take something of your mother's, you must take something to remind yourself of your time here at Kensington Palace and your mother's life."

Burrel said the brothers "went away with two very different prizes from their mother's life." He recalled how Prince William took Princess Diana's Cartier tank watch and Prince Harry her sapphire and diamond ring.

He explained, "So William piped up 'I'd like the Cartier tank watch which Grandpa Spencer gave her for her 21st birthday because I remember mummy wearing that, keeping the time.' Harry said, 'Well, can I have mummy's engagement ring? Because that's the ring I remember from my childhood.'"

Burrell supposed that "some deal must have been done behind the scenes" because Prince William proposed to Kate Middleton with the ring. He said that William "was happy" with Prince Harry keeping it because he is "not materialistic" and was not after the "flashiest jewel" in their mother's collection. He noted that the brothers chose "two very simple things" and "not fantastic jewels" but they meant something to them.

But Prince Harry told a different story in his memoir. He called reports that said he gave up the ring to Prince William "absolutely rubbish." He shared that he "never gave" his brother Princess Diana's engagement ring because it was not his to give. "He already had it. He'd asked for it after Mummy died, and I'd been more than happy to let it go," he wrote. Meghan Markle now has the Cartier tank watch.