ASadFarewell
Princess Diana’s sudden, tragic death united a nation in grief and robbed the world of a truly caring, compassionate woman
The fateful early hours of Sunday, August 31. While most of us slept soundly in our beds, a terrible drama was unfolding in Paris. Diana and Dodi Al Fayed left the Ritz Hotel by the back door with Henri Paul, the deputy head of Security at the Ritz and Trevor Rees-Jones, Diana’s bodyguard, in an attempt to shake off the paparazzi who had been plaguing their visit.
Just five minutes later, the car hit the 13th pillar of the Alma tunnel, killing Henri Paul and Dodi instantly and seriously injuring the princess and her bodyguard. By 4am the news was official. Diana had suffered a cardiac arrest and died, having sustained a torn pulmonary vein.
The world woke up to the terrible news that the People’s Princess had gone. A fashion icon would never again wow us with a fabulous new dress, a dedicated charity worker would never again turn a spotlight on those most in need, a loving mother would never again hug her sons.
The nation grieved. People spontaneously gathered outside Diana’s royal apartments at Kensington Palace, bringing flowers, cards, candles and gifts. By the time of the funeral on September 6, the gardens near the gates were five feet deep in bouquets.
Many camped out on the streets of London the night before the funeral. The need to come together was overpowering.
Diana’s coffin was placed on a gun carriage draped in the royal standard trimmed in ermine. On top were three white wreaths, one from her brother Charles and one from each of her sons. Twelve red-coated Welsh Guards escorted her through the streets of London for nearly two hours so the thousands lining the route could pay their respects.
Outside Buckingham Palace, the Queen and other members of the Royal Family stood at the palace gates and the Queen bowed her head as the cortege passed. When the procession reached St James’s Palace, it was joined by William and Harry, Diana’s brother Charles, the Prince of Wales and the Duke Of Edinburgh who accompanied it all the way to Westminster Abbey.
We all shed a tear when, during the service, Diana’s friend Elton John sang the rewritten version of Candle in the Wind, dedicated to England’s Rose.
Afterwards, the hearse carrying Diana’s coffin to her childhood home at Althorp was half-buried in flowers thrown by grieving onlookers – the driver even had to stop at one point and clear the flowers from the windscreen
The world woke up to the terrible news that the People’s Princess had gone
so he could see the way.
Diana is buried on a little island on an oval lake on the Althorp estate; a peaceful spot where, according to her brother, Earl Spencer, the family could visit her grave in private. But the world has never forgotten her caring and compassion, a champion for those who needed a voice, a devoted mother, taken too soon.