Seven days after Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed in a car accident in Paris, her funeral marked the beginning of a new chapter as the British monarchy almost lost its place in the hearts of a nation in mourning.
The 107-minute royal ceremonial funeral procession from Kensington Palace to Westminster Abbey on September 6, 1997, was witnessed by 2.5 billion people around the world, 33.5 million Brits on television, one million along London’s freeways and streets, and 2000 dignitaries, heads of state and celebrities inside the abbey.
Behind her gun carriage, with heads bowed, there were just five.
At 10am, as the abbey bell tolled, Diana’s sons, Princes William, 15, and Harry, 12, walked for the last 34 minutes from St James’s Palace between their father Prince Charles, Diana’s brother Charles Spencer (Earl Spencer), and their grandfather Prince Philip.
In an outpouring of grief not seen in modern British history, crowds sobbed and wailed as they witnessed the princes walk behind their mother’s coffin.
The decision to involve Diana’s young sons was not taken lightly. As history records, it was Prince Philip who intervened to make sure the royal occasion was forever documented in history.
In 2017, a Channel 5 film, Diana: 7 Days That Shook The Windsors, noted Prince William had refused for days to walk in the procession. On the morning of the funeral, he changed his mind.
“It took Prince Philip to persuade William to do it in the end, and he put a grandfatherly arm around and him and said: ‘If I come too, will you do it?’” says a friend of Diana’s, Richard Kay.
“I didn’t know they were going to do it. It puts a tingle in my spine and I just thought, my God, how brave,” recalled Anji Hunter, who was the director of government relations for then-British prime minister Tony Blair.
Royal commentator Dickie Arbiter was also interviewed for the documentary: “It was quite a tough experience for them and they carried it off with such aplomb … it’s unbelievable.”
“Whose heart cannot go out to those boys today … who can avoid a choke in the throat at the sight of them … an almost intolerable moment as they take their place behind their mother’s coffin,” the film’s narrator said.
How their lives changed forever
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge
Biographer Sally Bedell Smith elaborated on William’s reluctance to do something public, saying Prince Philip told the boys that if they didn’t walk, they could regret it later.
William went on to finish school at Eton, and met Kate Middleton at the University of St Andrews.
Fittingly, they married eight years later in a fairytale ceremony at Westminster Abbey in 2011. They have three children: Prince George, born in 2013, Princess Charlotte, born in 2015, and Prince Louis, born in 2018.
Prince William, second in line to the throne, is about to move to Adelaide Cottage in Windsor so his children can all attend the same school and the family can be closer to the Queen.
He is involved in multiple charities, including wildlife conservation, environmental issues and homelessness, in which Diana was also invested.
His dedication and sense of duty has never been on shaky ground.
On William’s 40th birthday, Vanity Fair wrote that he and his father were close, and were modernising the monarchy.
“They are absolutely on the same page, in fact they are closer now than they have ever been,” a family friend told Vanity Fair.
“They speak almost every day and they have a very loving and genuine connection. They believe in the monarchy, that it has a genuine purpose and that it has a future. They recognise that it has to modernise and that there will be changes in the future when the Queen’s reign comes to a close.”
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex
After Harry started dating former Suits actor and influencer Meghan Markle in 2017, they were never destined to remain in Britain.
They quit official duties in 2020 after a two-year stint as married royals, and moved to the US to escape a perceived lack of support from the monarchy.
They have two children, Archie, 3, and Lilibet, 1 and live in a $14-million estate in Montecito, California, where they live a very different lifestyle that includes Spotify and Netflix deals worth $175 million.
Reflecting on walking behind Diana’s coffin, Prince Harry said in 2017 that no “child should be asked to do that”, but later admitted he was “very glad to be a part of it”.
Harry has a fractured relationship with William, which many royal commentators say is irreconcilable. He does support many of Diana’s charities and humanitarian causes, including AIDS/HIV.
Royal commentators have said how devastated Diana would have been.
“I very much doubt they will be reconciled,” Diana’s biographer Andrew Morton was quoted in Marie Claire magazine in August.
“There is a lot of wishful thinking about this. The closest parallel is George VI and Edward VIII. George VI adored his brother, like Harry adored William.
“They were inseparable. But then he abdicated, moved abroad, and the relationship was never the same again. William and Harry are in a similar situation.”
Charles, Prince of Wales
There was a public backlash after Diana’s death towards Charles, and it took many years before he was accepted back into the hearts of the British.
Charles eventually sought the approval of the Queen to resume his relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles. They married in 2005 and she became the Duchess of Cornwall.
His popularity took a decade to increase and in the latest polls, 48 per cent of Brits think he’ll do a good job once he becomes king.
Camilla has gone from being the horrible stepmother to being tapped to be Queen consort when Charles assumes the throne.
Earl Spencer
After Diana’s brother Charles Spencer delivered a moving eulogy, which resonated the world over, about her being the most hunted woman on Earth, many were hoping he would continue her legacy in some way.
As a keen historian, he has done just that.
Princess Diana’s final resting place is in the grounds of Althorp Park in Northampton. Charles has been custodian of the estate since the death of his father, John Spencer, in 1992.
He regularly shares updates about its beautiful grounds and history, including recent photos on his social media from well wishers leaving floral tributes and messages at the gates on the eve of Diana’s death.
“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 so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition but can sing openly as you planned,” he said in his eulogy.
He continues to keep her spirit alive.
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921-2021)
“The British royal family nearly lost their place in the hearts of the nation,” states the film’s synopsis.
Without a doubt, Prince Philip’s actions on the day of Diana’s funeral helped steer a broken monarchy back on course.
Prince Philip died aged 99 on April 9 last year, two months before his 100th birthday.
He was the longest-serving royal consort in world history,
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