FORMER royal Butler Paul Burrell made a surprise visit to a Bolton clothing store.

Mr Burrell, who served as a footman for the Queen and a butler for Diana, Princess of Wales was in Bolton visiting Bolton School to talk to students and decided to pop in to the Indian products store House of Raja’s in Fletcher Street.

The store has been a landmark in Bolton for several decades and has supplied clothing and accessories for popular soaps and other television programmes.

Mr Burrell called in to the store unannounced and left staff aghast as he casually looked around the aisles.

General manager Sital Raja said: “It’s not every day you have someone who has served the Queen, Prince Charles, Princess Diana & other members of the royal household walk into the store and browse around.”

She added: “He sat and ate lunch here at the in-store deli and we chatted for over an hour about Bolton and the history.

“He’s really into history and culture and paints a lot of the sights that he’s seen.”

Mrs Raja gave Mr Burrell a guided tour of the store and his interest was sparked at the bright colours of the sari collections at the back of the store and the abundant selection of spices from around the world.

He recounted to staff tales of Princess Diana’s visit to India and how she treasured her own collection of saris.

Mrs Raja, herself is no stranger to royal protocol having being awarded an MBE for services to tourism in Bolton in 2002.