A “unique funeral for a unique person”
Early on the morning of Sept. 6, 1997, Princess Diana’s funeral cortege started from her home of Kensington Palace. Thousands of mourners surrounded the palace, where countless flowers had been left. More than 1 million mourners lined the route of the pr
That route was supposed to start at St. James’s Palace but was extended in anticipation of the crowds. From Kensington Palace, the procession wound past Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, past Royal Albert Hall and later down the tree-lined Constitution Hill past Buckingham Palace to St. James’s Palace. At that point, her sons, her ex-husband and her former father-in-law joined to walk behind the casket until the cortege arrived at Westminster Abbey.
On top of the casket was a card addressed to “Mummy” from her sons, Prince William, then 15, and Prince Harry, 12.
The boys were shattered. In an interview this year with the Express, William described that walk as “one of the hardest things I have ever done.” Harry, in an interview recently with Newsweek, said: “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. I don’t think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances. I don’t think it would happen today.”
The public funeral was attend- ed by the royal family, world leaders and celebrities, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, first lady Hillary Clinton, Henry Kissinger, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, George Michael, Mariah Carey, Luciano Pavarotti, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.
Both of Diana’s sisters read tributes at the funeral service. Blair gave a reading and was followed by Elton John, who performed Goodbye England’s Rose, a reworked version of his and Bernie Taupin’s 1973 classic Candle
in the Wind. Only a month earlier, Diana had comforted the singer at the funeral of slain fashion designer Gianni Versace.
Immediately after John’s performance, Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, delivered his eulogy. “Diana was the very essence of compassion, of duty, of style, of beauty,” he said. He promised that “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.” He also would famously blame the media for her death, calling her the “most hunted person of the modern age.”
After prayers, a blessing and hymn and the commendation for Diana were given, the public funeral service was over. The cortege left Westminster Abbey.
Later that day, Diana was laid to rest after a private service at Althorp, the Spencer family estate. She was buried on an island in a lake within the 500-year-old estate’s gardens.