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Princess Diana's former lover James Hewitt is working as a £4,000-a-year gardener in the grounds of the flat where he lives with his elderly mother, MailOnline can reveal.

The 62-year-old, who spent decades mixing first with Royalty and then celebrity, now spends his days digging up soil, cutting trees and blowing away fallen leaves.

Dressed in crumpled khaki trousers, a smart mauve shirt, flat cap and sunglasses the debonair ex-military man was seen this week driving his mower and raking leaves in the grounds where his mother has a two-bedroom flat.

 
But even in the tranquil setting of a Devon estate, the former Cavalry Officer simply can't avoid controversy and, as ever, it comes with a royal flavour.

Residents of the 17th Century manor house near Exeter say he has mangled a century-old Yew tree in a vain bid to 'make it look regal and shape it like a wine glass'.

Great grandparents Pauline and Barry Presswell who have lived in the building in Farringdon near Exeter, for three years say they fell out with him over the Yew tree debacle.