| Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales | |
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 The funeral cortege passing the Wellington Arch on Hyde Park Corner |
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| Participants | Elton John, British Royal Family, Tony Blair, Lady Sarah McCorquodale, Lady Jane Fellowes, Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer |
| Location | Westminister Abbey, London (official ceremony) Althorp (resting place) |
| Date | Saturday, 6 September 1997 9:08-15:32 |
The public funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales started on 6 September 1997 at 9:08 a.m. in London, when the tenor bell sounded to signal the departure of the cortege from Kensington Palace. The coffin was carried from the palace on a gun carriage, along beside Hyde Park to St. James' Palace, where Diana's body had lain in state for five days before being taken to Kensington Palace. The Union Jack on top of the palace was lowered to half mast. The official ceremony was held at Westminster Abbey in London and finished at the resting place in Althorp.
2,000 people attended the ceremony in Westminster Abbey[1] while the British television audience peaked at 32.78 million, one of the United Kingdom's highest viewing figures ever[2]. 2.5 billion people traced the event worldwide,[3] making it the most watched event in history.
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Diana died on 31 August 1997 in a car accident inside the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel of Paris. That afternoon, the Royal Squadron flew Diana's ex-husband Prince Charles and two older sisters to Paris to bring the remains back to Great Britain.
The event was not a state funeral in the strict sense, but a national public funeral that included royal pageantry and Anglican funeral liturgy.[4] A large pile of flowers was installed at the gates of Kensington Palace. Eight members of the Welsh Guards accompanied Diana's body, draped in the royal standard, on the one-hour-forty-seven-minute ride through London streets. At St. James' Palace, Prince Philip, Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry, and Earl Spencer joined to walk behind.
The ceremony at the Westminster Abbey opened at 11:00 BST and lasted one hour and ten minutes. The royal family placed wreaths alongside Diana's coffin in the presence of Princess Michael of Kent, former UK Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and Edward Heath, and former Conservative MP Winston Churchill, the grandson of World War II-era Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill.[5] The honorable guests included Hillary Clinton, Henry Kissinger, William Crowe, Bernadette Chirac, Queen Noor of Jordan.[5] The Prime Minister Tony Blair had read an excerpt from the First Epistle to the Corinthians: "And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love".[6] Among other invitees were Juan Carlos I of Spain, Princess Margriet of the Netherlands, Constantine II of Greece, Naruhito, Crown Prince of Japan with Crown Princess Masako and Nelson Mandela.[7]
The Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey and the Dean of Westminster Wesley Carr were also present in the abbey. The Anglican service opened with the traditional singing of "God Save the Queen". The pieces from Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonin Dvorak, Camille Saint-Saens and other composers were played throughout the ceremony. Diana was to have been interred in the hamlet of Great Brington at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, along with her ancestors, but the Spencer family shifted the place to Althorp for private reasons.
London's Foreign Press Association said it had received more than five hundred requests for credentials to cover the event.[5]
During the service, Elton John sang a new version of "Candle in the Wind", his hit song initially dedicated to Marilyn Monroe. The title of the remake version was changed to "Candle in the Wind 1997" and the lyrics to refer to Diana. Ironically, only a month before Diana's death she had been photographed comforting Elton John at the funeral of their mutual friend Gianni Versace.
The burial occurred privately, later the same day. The Prince of Wales, Diana's sons, her mother, siblings, a close friend, and a clergyman were present. Diana's body was clothed in a black long-sleeved dress designed by Catherine Walker, which she had chosen some weeks before. A set of rosary beads was placed in her hands, a gift she had received from Mother Teresa, who died the same week as Diana. Her grave is on an island within the grounds of Althorp Park, the Spencer family home.[8]
The original plan was for Diana to be buried in the Spencer family vault at the local church in nearby Great Brington, but Earl Spencer said that he was concerned about public safety and security and the onslaught of visitors that might overwhelm Great Brington. He decided that he wanted his older sister to be buried where her grave could be easily cared for and visited in privacy by her sons and other relations.
The island is in an ornamental lake known as The Round Oval within Althorp Park's gardens. A path with thirty-six oak trees, marking each year of her life, leads to the Oval. Four black swans swim in the lake. In the water there are water lilies, which, in addition to white roses, were Diana's favourite flowers.
On the southern verge of the Round Oval sits the Summerhouse, previously in the gardens of Admiralty House, London, and now adapted to serve as a memorial to Diana.[9] An ancient arboretum stands nearby, which contains trees planted by Prince William and Prince Henry, other members of her family, and Diana herself.
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