How top royals refused to applaud after Earl’s tirade at Diana funeral
THE Queen and other senior royals refused to applaud after Earl Spencer delivered his vitriolic eulogy at Princess Diana’s funeral, it has been revealed.
In a gripping documentary unveiling the inside story behind the day Diana was laid to rest, one of the Queen’s most senior courtiers opens up about the thinly-veiled attack Earl Spencer made on the Royal Family.
A member of the congregation also describes the ‘peculiar’ moment the cheers from outside Westminster Abbey that greeted the controversial eulogy rippled through the congregation – which had been listening in stunned silence.
William and Harry did applaud the speech, but it is not clear whether the princes, who were 15 and 12 when their mother died, understood the full extent of what their uncle was saying.
In his address, a furious Earl Spencer said to his sister: ‘We, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative way in which you were steering these two ... 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.’
Describing the awkwardness at the time, Martin Neary, the Abbey’s then musical director, says: ‘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.’ Speaking for the first time, Sir Malcolm Ross, one of the Queen’s right-hand men – who was responsible for the funeral arrangements, said: ‘It grated to me ... because I thought he was actually having a little bit of a go at the Royal Family.
‘It was my mistake to leave the doors of the Abbey open. What that meant was that when Lord Spencer made his remarks the audience outside applauded, which, in fact, started the audi- ence inside applauding. I don’t think anybody took offence.’
Sir Malcolm is the most senior member of the Royal Household ever to speak about Diana’s death and features extensively in the ITV documentary, Diana: The Day Britain Cried. It was made by Finestripe Productions, with the knowledge of William and Harry, to mark the 20th anniversary of her death. Executive producer Sue Summers describes the funeral as the ‘great untold story of her death’. In it, Sir Malcolm reveals there were no plans in place for Diana’s funeral before her death, and that ‘nobody at that stage knew whether it should be a Spencer family funeral or whether it was going to be a royal funeral’.
Describing the arrangements, he also recalls how the head of the Post Office held up the entire day’s First Class post on September 4, 1997, so he could get the invitations out. Diana: The Day Britain Cried airs on ITV on August 29 at 8pm
‘Shocked at things that were said’