• Princess Diana's former royal butler, Paul Burrell, revealed that Prince William and Prince Harry once begged for BB guns for Christmas one year when they were kids.
  • The BB guns caused a commotion in Kensington Palace, and led to the boys using siamese cats owned by a pair of royals for target practice.
  • Princess Diana had to ultimately step in so the boys could stop.

Not sure what it is about young boys and their toy guns, but even the royals aren't immune to falling into that childhood obsession. Case in point: Prince William and Prince Harry developed a love for guns that was so strong, it was their top gift request for Christmas while they were kids—and naturally, it caused issues at Kensington Palace.

“One of the biggest disasters one Christmas involved BB guns,” Princess Diana's former butler, Paul Burrell revealed in an interview with Casino.org. “Both Prince William and Prince Harry wanted them that year
and not just any BB guns, but the most powerful ones with the little pellets. At the time, we had no idea why they were so determined to have them.”

diana in aberdeen
Princess Diana Archive//Getty Images

Contrary to what one might believe of a palace, Kensington was more of “series of apartments joined together, where different members of the Royal Family live side by side, like a grand apartment block,” Burrell explained—and unfortunately for Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, Prince Diana, Prince Charles, William and Harry lived right next door.

After the boys received the BB guns for Christmas, Prince and Princess Michael's siamese cats “became moving targets as they walked along the top of the wall—rather like something at a fairground.” Young Wills and Harry “thought it was great fun” (LOL) but Burrell says he doesn't “imagine Princess Michael found it quite so amusing.”

diana, william & harry at thorpe park
Antony Jones//Getty Images

Diana ultimately found out what the boys were up to, and put a stop to it right away. “It caused no end of mischief, and eventually, of course, the princess [Diana] discovered what was going on and stopped it immediately,” Burrell told Marie Claire. “She made it very clear: that was absolutely not on.”

While William and Harry's reign of terror was likely a major nuisance, they were simply acting their age. The former butler noted that despite their royal pedigree, the boys were “full of energy, mischief, and ideas that feel exciting at the time, even when they really shouldn’t be.”