Behind the scenes of Princess Diana's final goodbye and secrets of the funeral procession
Princess Diana died on August 31, 1997 at just 36 years old...The funeral of Princess Diana saw millions line the streets to say their final goodbye. The People’s Princess passed away on August 31, 1997, 28 years ago, with Diana’s death being a pivotal moment in history. Her royal ceremonial funeral took place days later on September 6.
The 36-year-old died following a tragic car accident in Paris, after being pursued by paparazzi. Travelling with her partner Dodi Fayed, his bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, and driver Henri Paul, the vehicle crashed into a column in a tunnel. The princess died, alongside Dodi and Henri, while Trevor was left seriously injured.
Despite medics best efforts, she was declared dead at around 4am after being transported to hospital. The then Prince Charles flew over to Paris to see her, and it’s said he was teary-eyed as he sat beside her hospital bed. Charles and Diana had been divorced for a year, after being separated since 1992.
Princess Diana had a ceremonial funeral
Princess Diana’s funeral was watched by 2.5 billion people around the world, and it was arranged in just a week after her sudden death.
The plans were mostly inspired after funeral plans for the Queen Mother, under the codename Operation Tay Bridge. It’s common for the royal family to have plans in place for coronations and funerals years in advance. For example, after King Charles ascended to the throne, preparations for his funeral have already been underway.
The Operation Tay Bridge funeral had been arranged for the Queen Mother and rehearsed for 22 years, but Elizabeth didn’t pass away until 2002 – five years after Princess Diana. However, some parts were changed to honour her family, such as the removal of the Royal Standard for the Spencer family flag.
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The funeral procession passed Buckingham Palace garden well, and it’s said one million bouquets were left at Kensington Palace, where she lived.
While she was no longer a member of the royal family following her divorce from Charles, she had a ceremonial funeral.
The official ceremony took place at Westminster Abbey and a private burial was held later that day.
What royal refused to go to Diana’s funeral?
2,000 people, including members of the royal family, attended Princess Diana’s funeral. There were also political figures, close celebrity friends and her family.
Elton John, one of the star guests, sang a rendition of Candle in the Wind during the service, changing the lyrics as a tribute to the royal.
However, one member of The Firm did not attend – Sophie, Prince Edward’s wife, the now Duchess of Edinburgh. At the time she had been dating Edward for four years, and the duo would tie the knot in 1999.
According to biographer Sean Smith, she made the choice to avoid upsetting people in the crowd.
He said: “Sophie decided it would be too upsetting for the crowd if she went.”
A palace source reportedly told him: “She’s well aware that she looks like Princess Diana from a distance and made her decision in a caring and thoughtful way. The royal family fully supported.”
Sophie, who had short hair at the time, was often compared to Diana, and she didn’t want to cause upset.
Did Camilla attend Diana’s funeral?
Camilla, who had divorced her first husband Andrew Parker Bowles at the time, did not attend Princess Diana’s funeral. While she was present at Diana and Charles’ wedding in 1981, she was absent from her funeral and service.
Queen Camilla, then Charles’ wife and the Duchess of Cornwall, also did not attend Diana’s memorial service in 2007.
Harry and William led the service which marked 10 years since their mother’s death. While Camilla had been invited and accepted, she decided not to go.
She released a statement at the time over her absence: “I’m very touched to have been invited by Prince William and Prince Harry to attend the thanksgiving service for their mother Diana, Princess of Wales.
“I accepted and wanted to support them, however, on reflection I believe my attendance could divert attention from the purpose of the occasion which is to focus on the life and service of Diana.
“I’m grateful to my husband, William and Harry for supporting my decision.”
Read more: Inside Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s painfully complicated relationship
Prince William and Prince Harry walk behind their mother’s coffin during funeral procession
Author Tina Brown wrote in The Palace Papers that members of The Firm and the Spencer family argued for four days about which royal men would walk behind Princess Diana’s coffin during her funeral procession.
Prince William and Harry, 15 and 12 at the time, were often the reason for the arguments.
Prince Philip, who lost his own mother at just 10 years old, reportedly exploded over the idea of the boys walking in the procession.
She claimed he said: “Stop telling us what to do with those boys. They have lost their mother!
“His voice was full of emotion, a real voice of the grandfather speaking.”
Harry detailed his memory of the event in his memoir Spare. He recalls refusing to want to walk behind his mother’s coffin.
The Duke of Sussex wrote: “I didn’t want Willy to undergo an ordeal like that without me.”
Eventually it was their grandfather who talked the boys into it, but in a show of support. He reportedly told them: “I’ll walk if you walk.”
‘Nightmares’ over Diana’s coffin
Harry later told Newsweek: “My mother had just died, and I had to walk a long way behind her coffin, surrounded by thousands of people watching me while millions more did on television.”
“The thing I remember the most was the sound of the horse’s hooves going along the Mall, the red brick road,” He added in the Apple TV series The Me You Can’t See.
“By this point, both of us were in shock. It was like I was outside of my body. I’m just walking along and doing what was expected of me, showing one-tenth of the emotion that everybody else was showing.”
Whereas William also admitted it was “one of the hardest things” he’s ever done. The Prince of Wales admitted in the 2017 documentary, Diana, 7 Days: “I felt if I looked at the floor and my hair came down over my face, no one could see me.”
He also said: “It wasn’t an easy decision, and it was a sort of collective family decision to do that. There is that balance between duty and family, and that’s what we had to do.”
However their uncle Earl Spencer said in 2017 he was lied to about Prince William and Harry walking behind Diana’s coffin. He said he raised concerns about the plan, but was told the boys wanted to do it.
He revealed it was the “most horrifying half hour of my life” and said he still has nightmares about it. But he said it would have been a “million times worse” for the teenagers.
Earl told Radio 4: “Eventually I was lied to and told they wanted to do it, which of course they didn’t but I didn’t realise that.”
Princess Diana’s brother gave a controversial eulogy
Earl Charles Spencer gave a controversial eulogy at Princess Diana’s funeral. He made digs at the British media and the royal family who were sitting in the very pews he was facing.
Brown claimed he “aimed at every sitting member of the house of Windsor” inside the holy building.
He said during his speech: “On behalf of your mother and sisters, I pledge that we, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative way in which you were steering these two exceptional young men so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition but can sing openly as you planned.
“We fully respect the heritage into which they have both been born and will always respect and encourage them in their royal role but we, like you, recognise the need for them to experience as many different aspects of life as possible to arm them spiritually and emotionally for the years ahead.
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“I know you would have expected nothing less from us.”
It rubbed up The Firm the wrong way, with Martin Neary – Westminster Abbey’s musical director – later telling ITV that no one from the royal family applauded Charles Spencer’s eulogy.
He said in the Diana: The Day Britain Cried documentary: “I felt a great sympathy for what she had suffered but at the same time I was shocked by some of things which were said.
“The princes actually applauded at the end, although the senior members of the royal family did not.”
Queen Elizabeth’s ‘rule break’
While it was well-known the late Queen Elizabeth II followed royal tradition down to a T, the monarch actually broke a rule at Diana’s funeral. It was one of the rare times we saw her break tradition during her 70-year reign.
One important piece of protocol is to bow or curtsey to the monarch, but Her Majesty herself bowed to no one.
However, at Diana’s funeral, while standing by her family, the queen bowed her head as the cortege passed by. It was an unexpected move that honoured the Princess of Wales and was noticed by those watching around the world.
Body language Judi James later told Daily Mail the gesture was a signal of respect.
She said: “It was as though she finally recognised that Diana should have been queen one day and that her son would be king.
“The head-bowing probably registered respect for future king William as much as for Diana.”
Read more: King Charles ‘regrets bad behaviour’ that led to Princess Diana divorce
Where is the royal buried?
The original plan was for Princess Diana to be buried in the Spencer family vault near the Althorp estate. However, Earl Spencer changed the location to a small island on the estate so that it would be inaccessible to the public.
He wanted a place for William and Harry to visit in peace.
Years later, Harry wrote about a strange encounter at Diana’s grave when he took wife Meghan Markle to see it for the first time.
In their ‘private moment’ at her grave, he said that he found the Duchess of Sussex kneeling down and asking for guidance from his mother.
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