The Daily Mirror reports why Lady Diana fell out with Elton John. Paul Burrell, Diana's butler, has told for the first time how Diana "froze out" enemies.

Elton John, Fergie, nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke, staff and close friends all got the cold shoulder from the princess.

The butler himself was a victim and admits he was treated like a "piece of the furniture". Diana sacked 106 staff in his decade with her, said Paul. "With the princess, you got fascinating, complex, beautiful, amazing and then nothingness."

Talking to Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan for the BBC1 series "Tabloid Tales", Paul refers to the Queen’s intervention in his Old Bailey trial that led to its collapse.

One of the highest profile victims of Diana’s wrath was Elton John, who upset her with a book on Gianni Versace in which a picture of the princess and her sons appeared with semi-naked men.

Paul told how the "huge egos" of the pair clashed when Sir Elton failed to remove the family photo from the book on the fashion icon. Diana was desperate to avoid any cheapening of her image.

When told that 30,000 copies of the book were already in the shops, she demanded they be withdrawn. Elton wrote to the princess, saying he "couldn’t oblige".

She replied frostily, in a letter which began "Dear Mr John". They went their separate ways until she comforted Elton at Versace’s funeral after his 1997 murder at the age of 50.

Paul said: "Unfortunately that happened round about the time of Versace’s death and just before it Elton had put together a book on Versace. The princess had agreed to put a picture of herself and the boys in it. Unfortunately when it came out, the book was full of semi-naked men. The princess thought it was not appropriate for herself and the boys. She asked Elton if he could arrange for it to be taken out. She was adamant that it had to be withdrawn."

"He couldn’t oblige, so that relationship went on the slide. After Versace died the princess had a facility to come back into Elton’s world."

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