Brookside star Dean Sullivan had a friendship with Diana, Princess of Wales, and “made her laugh”, former royal butler Paul Burrell said after attending the actor’s funeral.

Burrell joined mourners at Liverpool Parish Church on Tuesday to pay his respects to the actor, best known for playing Jimmy Corkhill in the Merseyside soap, following his death last month aged 68.

He said Diana was a “fan” of the television programme, which last aired 20 years ago, and made a secret visit to the set where she met Sullivan.

He told the PA news agency: “They struck up a friendship. I was a conductor of that friendship and, when the princess passed, Dean came to me to mourn with me for the princess.”

He described Sullivan as a “warm, gentle and kind person”.

He added: “I’m here to represent not only myself but the princess, above, because she’d want me to be here.

“I think it’s appropriate I come to say goodbye to Dean. We’ll miss him.”

I'd put the call through and I'd listen to all the laughter upstairs... He made her laugh

Burrell, 65, said the actor used to ring Diana at Kensington Palace.

“I’d put the call through and I’d listen to all the laughter upstairs,” he said.

“He made her laugh.”

He said Diana sent Sullivan, who he described as a “great royalist”, a signed photo of herself and wrote to him on a number of occasions.

He added: “I think he cherished that relationship with her.”