(NewsNation) — Paul Burrell, a former butler to the British royal family, doesn’t think the relationship between the royals and Prince Harry and Meghan can be mended.
“Harry knew the rules,” Burrell said on NewsNation’s “Cuomo” on Friday. “He knew what he should do, and more importantly, what he shouldn’t do. But when the split came, and he went to America, he’d forgotten what he was taught as a young child, and he made up his own rules.”
Harry and Meghan stepped down as full-time working members of the royal family in 2020 and moved to California, later alleging racism played a role in their decision to distance themselves. The strained relationship with much of the British royal family was highlighted in Harry’s tell-all memoir “Spare.”
Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, released a statement sending “health and healing” to Catherine, the Princess of Wales, following her cancer diagnosis.
“We wish health and healing for Kate and the family,” Harry and Meghan said in a statement Friday. The pair said their hope was that Kate, who’s married to Harry’s brother, Prince William, is able to recover “privately and in peace.”
The statement from Harry and Meghan came hours after 42-year-old Kate announced she has been diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy following an absence from the public eye and royal duties. Middleton said she underwent abdominal surgery for a condition believed to be noncancerous at the time, but later found out that was incorrect.
The princess announced she is undergoing a course of preventative chemotherapy and said she and Prince William have been doing their best to process the news for their family.
She said they have been taking the time to explain things to the couple’s three children — Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis — and is doing well as she is cared for by her medical team.
In this photo provided by Camera Press and released Wednesday, April 28, 2021, is Britain’s Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, at Kensington Palace photographed this week in London, England. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary on Thursday, April 29. (Chris Floyd/Camera Press/PA via AP) 
FILE – Britain’s Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge visits the Urban Nature Project at the Natural History Museum, in London, June 22, 2021. The Duchess of Cambridge, who turns 40 on Sunday Jan. 9, 2022, has emerged as Britain’s reliable royal. After Prince Harry and Meghan’s stormy departure to California in 2020, the death of Prince Philip last year, and now sex abuse allegations against Prince Andrew, the former Kate Middleton remains in the public eye as the smiling mother of three who can comfort grieving parents at a children’s hospice or wow the nation by playing piano during a televised Christmas concert. (Geoff Pugh/Pool Photo via AP, File) 
SANDRINGHAM, NORFOLK – DECEMBER 25: Catherine, Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte of Wales, Prince George of Wales, Prince William, Prince of Wales, Prince Louis of Wales and Mia Tindall attend the Christmas Morning Service at Sandringham Church on December 25, 2023 in Sandringham, Norfolk. (Photo by Samir Hussein/WireImage) 
FILE – Britain’s Prince William visits Sustainable Ventures, Europe’s largest climate tech hub, in London, Oct. 5, 2023. Prince William will travel to Singapore next month to name the winners of his Earthshot prize, a global competition to find solutions to the challenges of climate change. (Kate Green/Pool via AP, File) 
Britain’s Prince William and Britain’s Prince Harry walk beside each other after viewing the floral tributes for the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Windsor Castle, in Windsor, England, Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. Prince Harry has said he wants to have his father and brother back and that he wants “a family, not an institution,” during a TV interview ahead of the publication of his memoir. The interview with Britain’s ITV channel is due to be released this Sunday. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File) 
FILE – Britain’s Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge visit the Church on the Street in Burnley, England, Jan. 20, 2022. Prince William and the Princess of Wales will make their first trip to the U.S. in eight years this week, hoping to focus attention on his Earthshot Prize for environmental innovators. (Danny Lawson/Pool photo via AP, File) 
Britain’s Prince William and Kate, Princess of Wales, watch the NBA basketball game between the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022, in Boston. (Brian Snyder/Pool Photo via AP) 
Britain’s Prince William and Kate, Princess of Wales, left, and Britain’s Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex walk to greet the crowds after viewing the floral tributes for the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Windsor Castle, in Windsor, England, Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
NewsNation’s Stephanie Whiteside contributed to this report.