The death of Princess Diana sent shockwaves around the world when it happened about twenty-five years ago.
Diana who will always be remembered as the ‘People’s Princess,’ was not a member of the royal family at the time of her death. But she had quite the royal funeral in her honor, nonetheless.
Almost twenty-five years ago, on September 6, 1997, the funeral for Princess Diana took place. Diana, known affectionately as the ‘People’s Princess’ had her life cut short in a car accident while she was in Paris.
She was in the car with her Egyptian boyfriend Dodi Fayed, and their driver Henri Paul. Both men also lost their lives in the accident.
For Diana’s funeral held at Westminister Abbey, 2,000 people came to pay their respects to the late philanthropist. The streets of London saw over a million people showing up to pay their respect to the princess.
The live television coverage of her funeral is said to have broken records at the time for being the most viewed event. It was estimated that over 2.5 billion people tuned in to watch the funeral procession from around the world.
Right before Diana’s death, tensions between her and the royal family were famously rife. And once she passed, the royal family was on the receiving end of a lot of anger and disdain from the general public. They were heavily criticized for their response to the princess’s death.
Even though at the time of her death Diana was no longer a royal, she was honored in many ways that are strictly reserved for members of the royal family.
Despite having been divorced by Prince Charles, she was given a ceremonial funeral, which broke royal protocol. No one apart from members of the royal family receives ceremonial funerals. The reason an exception was made for Diana was her popularity with the public.
It was later reported that the funeral executed for Diana had been planned for 22 years named as ‘Operation Tay Bridge’, as it was originally designed for the Queen’s mother.
However, unlike the Queen’s mother, Diana received a ceremonial funeral, not a state funeral.
Before the funeral was announced, there were rumors that Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth had contrasting opinions about what the funeral should entail.
It was said that Queen Elizabeth wanted a private funeral for her former daughter-in-law, and did not want her body to rest in the royal palace before it began. But that Prince Charles had overruled that decision.
However, Buckingham Palace made a statement to the press denying these rumors. The Palace said, “It is simply untrue to suggest that the Queen ever opposed arrangements over where the princess’s body would lie”.
Another long-standing tradition that was broken for Diana’s funeral was the Queen allowing for the Union Flag to fly half-mast over Buckingham Palace. Before this, custom strictly stated that the Royal Standard flag should always fly at full mast when the monarch was present in the palace.
When Diana had died in Paris, the royal family had been away at Balmoral hence the flag outside Buckingham Palace was not displayed.
But during her funeral, when the family was present at Buckingham Palace, pressure from the public began to build which led the royal family to decide that they should fly the flag at half-mast in honor of late Diana.
The Queen made the exception of flying the flag at half-mast for the first time in history. Since then, it has been flown at half-mast for a handful of occasions which included, the first anniversary of Diana’s death, the September 11 attacks in 2001, the Bombings in London in 2005, and on the death of the Queen Mother.
But the final protocol the Queen broke for Diana’s funeral was perhaps the most significant one. Traditionally, the monarch never bows to anyone, instead anyone who meets the monarch is expected to bow before them.
But during Diana’s funeral procession, she broke this royal protocol and unsaid rule. As Diana’s coffin passed by Buckingham Palace, crowds observed in disbelief as the Queen lowered her head in a bow.
Other members of the royal family saw her and followed suit, bowing their heads in honor of the late princess.
This gesture by the Queen was remembered by many and remarked as a testament to her character.
The Queen set a lot of examples during her reign and is credited with having modernized the monarchy for the twenty-first century.
Our hearts go out to everyone mourning the loss of her majesty, Queen Elizabeth.
