Paul Burrell slams ‘sideshow’ Sussexes amid claims stars are avoiding them

Paul Burrell has blasted the ‘sideshow’ Sussexes amid claims top names are avoiding the pair.

The former I’m A Celebrity contestant, who worked as the former butler to Princess Diana’s butler, has opened up on how he feels about the controversy surrounding Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle. It comes as Paul claims the Duchess of Sussex’s circle is dwindling.

Burrell claimed Americans are starting to view the Sussexes as a “side show”.

For all the latest on news, politics, sports, and showbiz from the USA, go to The Mirror US.

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He was speaking to Closer, who claim the likes of George Clooney and his wife Amal, and Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom have turned down recent invites from the pair. He said: “Back in the day, the A-listers were riding on the moment – Harry and Meghan were the most popular couple in the country at one time, when they got married, but there’s since been a decline.”

It follows widespread rumours that David and Victoria Beckham were ignored by Meghan. Paul explained: “Harry and Meghan’s circle is getting smaller and smaller. I think the A-list stars are dropping like flies. Some already have done – Oprah no longer seems involved with them and some other celebrities have also dropped them.”

Meanwhile Prince Harry has opened up about suffering desertion by some of his oldest friends after he was chastised for his explosive Oprah Winfrey interview.

The Duke of Sussex spoke out about how his nearest and dearest berated him for opening up to the US chat-show queen about the Royal Family. Just this week one of his former best pals Hugh van Cutsem fuelled rumours of a bitter fallout after teaming up with Meghan Markle ’s sworn enemy, Jeremy Clarkson.

Harry revealed how his favourite former nanny Tiggy Pettifer even grilled him over the Oprah interview. He said: “I told them that I failed to see how speaking to Oprah was any different from what my family and their staffs, had done for decades – briefing the press on the sly, planting stories.”

Prince Harry wrote in his memoir Spare: “Several close mates and beloved figures in my life, including one of Hugh and Emilie’s sons, Emilie herself, and even Tiggy, had chastised me for Oprah, How could you reveal such things? About your family?”

Harry said he reckoned it was no different from his father’s authorised biography written by journalist Jonathan Dimbleby in 1994, which suggested Prince Philip bullied him to tears. Harry wrote in his book Spare: “And what about the endless books on which they’d co-operated. Starting with Pa’s 1994 crypto-autobiography with Jonathan Dimbleby? Or Camilla’s collaborations with the [former Daily Mail ] editor Geordie Greig? The only difference was that Meg and I were upfront about it.”

Meanwhile, Harry faced even more friendship drama after his former best pal appeared to have deserted him. There’s a rumour of a rift with Hugh van Cutsem after he worked alongside Meghan Markle’s nemisis, Jeremy Clarkson.

The former Top Gear host hit the headlines in 2022 after he wrote an article in The Sun newspaper, in which Jeremy cruelly described how much he hated the Duchess of Sussex. In the column, Clarkson shared his hopes of the Duchess of Sussex being paraded naked in the street – which was later ruled as sexist by the press regulator.

For all the latest on news, politics, sports, and showbiz from the USA, go to The Mirror US.