Tomorrow is the 28th anniversary of Princess Diana‘s funeral – the culmination of a shocking week no one in Britain would ever forget.
It was a tragedy that created many indelible images that have since been burned into the national psyche.
These included pictures of thousands upon thousands of floral tributes outside both Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace, blocking the entrance to both the homes and leading to many London florists selling out of stock.
But perhaps the most heartbreaking moment was that of the young Prince William and Prince Harry walking behind their mother’s coffin with their heads down looking at the ground.
However, that image – which was unthinkable just over a week earlier – might never have occurred if the Earl of Spencer had got his way.
Writing in his memoir, titled Spare, Harry revealed that on the days before Diana’s funeral his uncle protested the Royal Family‘s plans to have the 12-year-old prince and the 15-year-old William walk behind the coffin.
‘There was some discussion about the next day’s funeral. Per the latest plan, the coffin would be pulled through the streets on a horse-drawn carriage by the King’s Troop while Willy and I followed on foot,’ Harry said.
‘It seemed a lot to ask of two young boys. Several adults were aghast. Mummy’s brother, Uncle Charles, raised hell.
A young Prince William and Prince Harry joined by the now King Charles, the Earl of Spencer and Prince Philip as they walk behind the hearse carrying Princess Diana’s funeral
Princess Diana in June 1997. The Princess of Wales died in a car crash in Paris 28 years ago
Earl of Spencer (centre) ‘raised hell’ to try and stop Harry taking part in the procession – the prince claimed in his autobiography
‘”You can’t make these boys walk behind their mother’s coffin! It’s barbaric”. An alternative plan was put forward. Willy would walk alone. He was fifteen, after all. Leave the younger one out of it. Spare the Spare.’
However it was decided that both the princes would walk behind the carriage in order to ‘garner sympathy, presumably’, Harry claimed, but it still left the Earl of Spencer ‘furious’.
Harry wrote that he in fact wanted to be by his brother’s side.
‘I didn’t want Willy to undergo an ordeal like that without me. Had the roles been reversed, he’d never have wanted me—indeed, allowed me—to go it alone,’ he said.
And so Harry walked behind Diana’s coffin in the one mile procession to Westminster Abbey.
Remembering that day, the Duke of Sussex said: ‘So, come morning, bright and early, off we went, all together. Uncle Charles on my right, Willy to his right, followed by Grandpa.
‘And on my left was Pa. I noted at the start how serene Grandpa looked, as if this was merely another royal engagement. I could see his eyes, clearly, because he was gazing straight ahead. They all were. But I kept mine down on the road. So did Willy. I remember feeling numb. I remember clenching my fists.
‘I remember keeping a fraction of Willy always in the corner of my vision and drawing loads of strength from that.’
Harry next to his brother at Diana’s funeral. The Duke of Sussex wrote that he wanted to be by his brother’s side at the ceremony
Diana’s coffin enters Westminster Abbey for the funeral service
Although they had speeded ahead the hearse was delayed several times ‘by all the people heaping flowers onto it, blocking the vents and causing the engine to overheat,’ Harry wrote
He continued: ‘Most of all I remember the sounds, the clinking bridles and clopping hooves of the six sweaty brown horses, the squeaking wheels of the gun carriage they were hauling. (A relic from the First World War, someone said, which seemed right, since Mummy, much as she loved peace, often seemed a soldier, whether she was warring against the paps or Pa.)
‘I believe I’ll remember those few sounds for the rest of my life, because they were such a sharp contrast to the otherwise all-encompassing silence.
‘There wasn’t one engine, one lorry, one bird. There wasn’t one human voice, which was impossible, because two million people lined the roads. The only hint that we were marching through a canyon of humanity was the occasional wail.’
After the ceremony, Harry and William were rushed to Althorp – the Spencer family home – where Diana was set to be buried.
However, although they had speeded ahead the hearse was delayed several times ‘by all the people heaping flowers onto it, blocking the vents and causing the engine to overheat,’ Harry wrote.
‘The driver had to keep pulling over so the bodyguard could get out and clear the flowers off the windscreen,’ he added.
Harry said that it was after Diana’s coffin was laid to rest that the prince started to cry.
Diana’s funeral on September 6 1997 was watched by an estimated 32million people in Britain which was over half of the entire population at the time and made it one of the most watched events in UK history
He said: ‘My body convulsed and my chin fell and I began to sob uncontrollably into my hands. I felt ashamed of violating the family ethos, but I couldn’t hold it in any longer.
‘It’s ok, I reassured myself, it’s ok. There aren’t any cameras around. Besides, I wasn’t crying because I believed my mother was in that hole. Or in that coffin.
‘I promised myself I’d never believe that, no matter what anyone said. No, I was crying at the mere idea. It would just be so unbearably tragic, I thought, if it was actually true.’
Diana’s funeral on September 6 1997 was watched by an estimated 32million people in Britain which was over half of the entire population at the time and made it one of the most watched events in UK history.
