TV producer with military past posed for St Patrick’s Day photo
Mark Burnett (60) is married to Derry-born actress Roma Downey, whose hometown witnessed the slaughter of 14 innocent civilians by Burnett’s Parachute Regiment during a civil rights march on Bloody Sunday in 1972. Several soldiers have since been charged as a result with murder.
The 1st Battalion of that same regiment was also responsible for the Ballymurphy Massacre in 1971, many years before Burnett joined, when 11 unarmed civilians in Belfast were shot dead over the space of two days in the Belfast suburb. A coroner’s report in 2021 found that all of those killed had been innocent and had been killed “without justification”.
Parachute Regiment killed Derry civilians on Bloody Sunday in 1972
McGregor, who has regularly worn a poppy commemorating members of the British Armed Forces killed in conflicts, including in Northern Ireland, brought along his partner Dee Devlin and his four children to meet Trump in the Oval Office on St Patrick’s Day.
Joining the group there was tech billionaire Elon Musk, as well as Burnett.
Trump and Burnett became bosom buddies after the Englishman produced the New York mogul’s stint in the American version of The Apprentice.
Burnett has won 13 Emmy awards and has also worked on shows such as Survivor and Shark Tank.
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In January Trump said it was his “great honour” to Burnett to be his special envoy to the UK, a position different to that of ambassador.
“Mark will work to enhance diplomatic relations focusing on areas of mutual interest, including trade, investment opportunities and cultural exchanges,” he added.
Burnett said in a statement: “I am truly honoured to serve the United States of America and President Trump as his Special Envoy to the United Kingdom.”
Variety magazine recognised Burnett and his wife Roma Downey as “trailblazers” while both of them were also named among the ‘Most Influential People’ by The Hollywood Reporter.
Burnett with his wife, Roma Downey
In February 2016, Downey and Burnett gave the keynote address at President Obama’s final National Prayer Breakfast, and Burnett returned the following year to introduce President Trump at his first National Prayer Breakfast.
Born in London in 1960, Burnett was raised in Dagenham in Essex, where his parents were Ford Motor factory workers.
His father was a Catholic Glaswegian and his mother was a Presbyterian, but it is not known in which denomination he was raised.
At the age of 17, he enlisted in the British Army, and in the rank of corporal became a Section Commander in the Parachute Regiment.
From 1978 to 1982 he served with the 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment in C Company and saw action during the Falklands/Malvinas War and Northern Ireland.
After his service, he initially planned to go to Central America and work as a “weapons and tactics adviser”.
He emigrated to the United States in 1984, where he was initially a nanny before working in insurance.
In 1991, he made his breakthrough into TV production when he bought the rights to a French adventure business and started up an American version.
In 2004, NBC premiered The Apprentice, a reality television series in which contestants competed for a job under real estate magnate and later US president Donald Trump.
Burnett and Downey produced The Bible, a 10-hour History Channel drama based upon stories of The Bible. It became the No. 1 new series on cable TV in 2013.
His first wife was Kym Gold, but that marriage only lasted about a year.
Before that marriage finished, he met Dianne Burnett (née Valentine) and they married in 1992; they have two sons together, James and Cameron. The couple divorced in 2006.
In January 2004, Burnett began dating Roma Downey and they wed in 2007 in their Malibu home.
He and Downey are heavily involved with philanthropic organisations Operation Smile and Compassion International.
The Sunday World reached out to Burnett to enquire about his contacts with McGregor, and also asked for his take on the MMA fighter’s recent conviction in a civil court in Dublin for rape, but we got no response.