I will always be Diana's rock: Burrell

The show also revealed a video diary made by Mr Burrell and shown for the first time.

In it he reveals how he considered suicide after his arrest but stopped himself for the sake of his family.

On the diary, shown on the programme, he said: “I thought I had brought shame not only on my own family but on the princess too and at my lowest point I did make a decision.

“I will never forget as I sat in the lay-by in my car with a bottle of water and a bottle of pills thinking I can escape from this ‘I can actually finish it now. I can’t handle any more of this’.

“The one thing that stopped me was the fact that I owe it to Maria and the boys to get through this and come through and tell the truth tell my story and put the record straight and make sure they don’t re-write history.”

In a later entry, Mr Burrell talks of his amazement as how his duties to the royals could land him in court.

He said: “In my wildest dreams I just can’t imagine that by protecting someone, by taking care of them by devoting your life to someone you can end up in prison.”

In another entry, on the trial, he says: “The whole thing is going to be emotional for everybody... so many people have too much to say about the Princess’s life and it’s time they stopped it breaking through and leave her at rest.

“Sadly enough ...I’ll seem to be the one to betray her although I am not because I will never do that.

“I am going to hold my head up high and I am going to strive and say I am here, I am Diana’s rock and I will always be her rock and I will show them.”

Mr Burrell also spoke of his now-famous meeting with the Queen when he is said to have explained he had Diana’s items – which led to the collapse of the theft trial.

But asked whether the Queen would have known the full extent of the items he had , he said: “She didn’t ask me and I didn’t tell her.

“That may sound rather presumptive and arrogant but it wasn’t meant that way.

“All I said was that I was keeping certain items safe. I had witnessed what I had witnessed and I did not wish that history be re-written. I felt that it was a very important time not only for the royal family but for history.”

He added: “I felt that everything that was contained within Kensington Palace belonged to William and Harry and, as to the items which the Princess had entrusted me during her lifetime, I felt belonged to William and Harry. It was never my property.”

In reference to the alleged warning from the Queen, he added: “She said ‘Paul do be careful. There are powers at work in this country of which we have no knowledge’ and she didn’t have to explain that any further.”

However he said he thought it would have been out of place to push the matter further.

He reveals how the Queen wrote to Diana on many occasions and that he told her about Diana’s life at that meeting.

“She said that she had tried to reach out on so many occasions and I said ‘I know your Majesty because I saw your letters because the Princess showed them to me but the problem was, your Majesty, you speak in black and white and the Princess spoke in colour.’ Yes, she smiled. She knew exactly what I meant.”

On the so-called “box of secrets” that was said to contain a tape outlining a sexual assault, Mr Burrell said he opened it with Diana’s sister Lady Sarah McCorquordale.

He said he never heard the contents of the tape but he believed Diana was keeping it to protect the alleged perpetrator and victim.

“I think in her own way she would have wished to sort out this problem herself ... She took care of it and decided that no further action should be taken.”

Mr Burrell said his life went “down the tubes” the night Diana died but he was determined to sort out the situation.

“My immediate response was that I had to get to Paris somehow; she would want me to take care of the situation.

“There’s no dignity in death and I felt that I had to be there. I didn’t want this to become a peep show for the world. It had to be kept private, dignified and I had to control it.”