Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales
The funeral cortege passing the Wellington Arch on Hyde Park Corner
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| Date | Saturday, 6 September 1997 9:08–15:32 |
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| Location |
Westminster Abbey, London (official ceremony) Althorp (resting place) |
| Participants | British Royal Family, Prime Minister Tony Blair, Lady Sarah McCorquodale, Lady Jane Fellowes, Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, Sir Elton John, etc. |
The public funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales started on 6 September 1997 at 9:08 am 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 Hyde Park to St. James' Palace, where Diana's body had remained for five days before being taken to Kensington Palace. The Union Flag 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.
Two thousand people attended the ceremony in Westminster Abbey while the British television audience peaked at 32.10 million, one of the United Kingdom's highest viewing figures ever. Two billion people traced the event worldwide, making it one of the most watched events in history.
Diana's coffin, draped with the royal standard with an ermine border, was brought to London from the Salpêtrière Hospital, via Vélizy – Villacoublay Air Base, Paris, by Diana's ex-husband Charles, Prince of Wales and her two sisters on 31 August 1997. After being taken to a private mortuary it was put at the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace.
The event was not a state funeral, but a royal ceremonial funeral including royal pageantry and Anglican funeral liturgy. A large display of flowers was installed at the gates of Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace. Eight members of The Queen's Welsh Guards accompanied Diana's coffin, draped in the royal standard with an ermine border, on the one-hour-forty-seven-minute ride through London streets. On top of the coffin were three wreaths of white flowers from her brother, the Earl Spencer, and her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. At St. James's Palace, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, her sons, and her brother joined to walk behind. Five hundred representatives of various charities the Princess had been involved with joined behind them in the funeral cortege; among them was the actor Andrew Lincoln, who acted as representative of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, of which the Princess was a patron. The coffin passed Buckingham Palace where members of the Royal Family were waiting outside. Queen Elizabeth II bowed her head as it went by. More than one million people lined the streets of London, and flowers rained down onto the cortege from bystanders.
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