Burrell considers bids of up to £1m for his story

Former confidant of Diana, Princess of Wales, to give his account of events surrounding trial but unlikely to 'dish dirt'

The former royal butler Paul Burrell is preparing to tell his story about the fiasco that led to the collapse of his high- profile theft trial.

He will sit down with his agent over the next 48 hours to examine more than 300 offers from around the world with reputed fees of up to £1m to reveal all about his time with the monarchy.

As questions continued to be asked about the role of the police, prosecutors and the Royal Family in the sudden ending of the trial on Friday, news emerged that Mr Burrell failed to reveal the substance of his conversation with the Queen because he was unaware of its significance.

"I never realised that what I told the Queen could clear me," he told the BBC.

Mr Burrell spent Friday night at the home of his solicitor, close to his home in Farndon, Cheshire, before travelling to a secret location where he remained throughout the weekend.

His agent, Dave Warwick, said that his client, despite being cleared of any wrongdoing, felt as if he were in jail because of the intense interest in his story.

"He can't look out from behind the curtains, he can't go into the garden and he can't take a walk with the dog," said Mr Warwick. "He is just making the best of a bad situation." He said he would not be talking to Mr Burrell until today to allow him to have as normal a Sunday as possible with his wife, Maria, and his two sons.

Mr Warwick, who was given the job of acting for him after the collapse of the trial on Friday, said he had received inquiries from New Zealand, Germany and the United States. Two unnamed daily newspapers are thought to be the favourites to buy his story.

A source said: "The bids are flying in and one is around the £1m mark. Lesser stories have gone for hundreds of thousands of pounds so imagine what this one is worth."

Mr Burrell's advisers raised doubts yesterday that any serialisation would "dish the dirt" on his former employers, who included the Queen, the Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales.

Of particular interest would be the breakdown of the Princess of Wales's marriage and intimate details of her subsequent relationships that Mr Burrell helped to shield from the public gaze.

It is believed that some of the characters involved offered to give evidence in defence of Mr Burrell, who has since left royal service and now works as a florist.

His solicitor, Andrew Shaw, said: "I think that there will always be the important intimate secrets that he was entrusted with by the Princess that will never be told. Paul would never have said anything gratuitously about the Royal Family for the sake of sensationalism."

Mr Warwick said all Mr Burrell wanted to talk about at this stage was how the case had affected him, his family, friends and life in general.

"If you had gone through what he has in the past two years and you did not have the chance to go into the dock and put your side of the story, would you not want to put the record straight?" Mr Warwick said.

"I think that he should be given the chance to put the record straight and tell people how much pressure he and his family have been under," he added. "He is just a nice guy – a quietly spoken very nice guy who thinks about what he says and does.

"But remember, all this has meant that over the past two years he has had to make a living by selling flowers at fifteen quid a bunch."

The publicisst Max Clifford said Mr Burrell's knowledge of the monarchy, accumulated during years of service, would be worth millions of pounds. "Every publisher would be desperate for Paul Burrell's book. He has a unique insight into the monarchy and what went on behind the scenes," he added.

Mr Burrell is considering bringing a civil case against the police after his acquittal. He had mentioned in statements that he had held a private meeting with the Queen, but did not refer to what was said.

He had assumed that the details of any conversation he had with the Queen should always remain confidential. The case against Mr Burrell crumbled after police were informed on Monday that he told the Queen in 1998 he was taking some of the Princess's documents from Kensington Palace for safe keeping.