Public reaction when Princess Diana died

[StressedOutSemolina]

Who remembers it? I was just turned 13 and I cried upstairs whilst looking up at the sky, I was really upset by it. It was thundering where I lived making the whole sad day even more eerie. BUT that was it. I cried at home, privately and quietly. Then got on with it.

Then I watched the funeral... and saw people literally SCREAMING in the streets. It was just obscene the way some people were behaving in public. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it since. Don't get me wrong it was a devastating time and such a tragic event.

I also remember watching it back years later and feeling very sorry for the poor hearse driver who could barely see in front of him for the amount of full bouquets being lobbed directly at the window.

I was a similar age to you OP and did get caught up in it slightly but later when I saw grown adults screaming and crying in the streets it was OTT. I’ve never been to a funeral where the loved ones literally scream out the person’s name in tears but people were doing that on the streets for someone they never met. It wasn’t grief it was performance and hysteria.

I remember thinking how awful it was for William and Harry at the time (I was an older teen at the time)but when I've watched it back as a parent, now to teenagers I'm aghast at the "centre stage" role the 2 boys were expected to take in front of thousands of people, and televised across the world.

I was 18 and in America. The hysteria even reached there and I had people coming up to me offering condolences as if she was a member of my family. As far as I was concerned it was sad that two young boys lost their mum but that was it.

I think it was a horrific thing to get William and Harry to walk behind the coffin.

It was Blair who pushed for that, apparently, and the sovereign is constitutionally obliged to act on the advice of the PM.

Someone I work with, got married on the day of her funeral

She said they had a room at the venue with a TV on and people kept going out to watch it

That would've really pissed me off if I were the bride

I agree but tbh I also think that last year's social event where people flocked in huge numbers to walk past Elizabeth's coffin was in dreadful taste too.

Yes, that was brutal

I think the royal family made a deal with the media that the family were not filmed during the funeral

Social event?? seriously?

I get fed up with being told that the boys were FORCED to walk behind the coffin. Journalists have done it for years. It is normal for families to follow a coffin but usually it isn't along the streets. I don't suppose that anyone - Charles, the Spencers, the Queen, the Prime Minister et cetera knew exactly what to do - would you? - and I don't believe that any of them suggested or encouraged the boys to follow the coffin from any malicious or unkind motive. I don't suppose the boys had a clue as to what was best for them, either. At 12, I would most likely have gone along with what the adults suggested.

I was 17 and was utterly baffled by the reaction.

My mom woke me up first thing in the morning after Diana had died, which pissed me off, because I wanted a lie in. Then on the day of the funeral we ran out of teabags, and I couldn't buy any because all of the shops were shut. I was feeling distinctly irritated by the whole spectacle.

Obviously it was sad that she died, especially at such a young age with two young kids, but no more than the tragic death of any other stranger (or celebrity).

I know. Paying respect to a deceased monarch or major public figure is a tradition that goes back centuries. It was respectful and tasteful.

We live in a free country, so what if some people expressed their emotions in a manner you didn't approve of? They're allowed.

It was mental. I remember my mum wailing at the tv when it was first on the news. Then she went and camped in London the night before the funeral. This is a woman that puts ketchup into a pot because it’s too rough to have the bottle on the table… and she slept on the streets of London for the funeral!

It was mass hysteria. And no there's been nothing remotely close to it since (and dare I say it before).

The only thing comparable is when North Korea leaders (dictators) die, but given so much of that is fake it doesn't come close to the Diana reaction.

That whole week was mental. It was genuinely like a dark cloud hung over the place. Newswise everyting came to a standstill. Mother Teresa died that week, barely caused a ripple. All other news got swamped. The fame and omnipresence of Diana was on a completely different level, so much so many felt like she was family, hence folk crying on the street like they'd lost a family member. Media plays a big role in society, and given how much she dominated the news/front pages the hole she left was vast.

That level of hysteria cant ever happen again because media is much bigger and more fractured now so no individual will ever gain that level of celebrity. There isnt the same streamlined focus on just a small number of individuals as there are far more media outlets thanks to the internet..basically if Diana was around now she'd only get a fraction of the publicity she got back then...she'd have to share the spotlight with new concepts such as vloggers, YouTube stars, reality show participants etc. as well as all the regular celebs of which there are much more than previous due to the greater need to fill all the extra media articles. As consumers we have greater choice than just the five tv channels and a smattering of newspapers like in Diana's day...it was impossible to avoid her then. Now we pick and choose what to watch/read and when. She would still get covered, but her impact would be diluted immensely. Her dying today wouldn't be anything remotely close to the mania that occurred back then.

She was having her arm twisted up her back by the press and Blair.

Remember she originally refused to return to London because she thought she should stay in Scotland with W&H and support them but she was hung out to dry in the press and Blair told her she should be in London and that the people wanted to see her and the boys.

Especially to the longest reigning monarch in British history, whose death moved a lot of people very deeply.

Social event. 🙄

(Really overusing that emoji today).

I was 14 and couldn't have cared less. 40 now and still couldn't. Not my family, not my grief.

One of my friends was depressed about a family tragedy and he just went to Kensington Palace and sat under a tree and cried for a day with all the other crying people, he said it was very therapeutic. I wonder if maybe a lot of the people having hysterica on tv were really crying about other stuff.

I was surprised that I felt very sad, as I had zero interest in her before she died. I think one reason was that it had been presented as a fairytale romance, with a commoner marrying the heir to the throne etc, and then there was this huge surge of empathy from everyone for the whole idea that a young woman gets sold a dazzling fairytale but it turns out to be rotten at the core and ends up destroying her. I mean haven’t most women been dazzled by something at some time turns out to be toxic shit.

hmmm
I was in my mid 30s with primary aged children
we are republicans and I remember hearing the news in the morning and thinking, tragic loss of a young life, her poor boys etc but that's all
(for context I was horrified at her marriage as were my friends but this was something rarely voiced in public)
very quickly it became obvious that we had to tiptoe round all the hysteria or risk being labelled cruel and heartless- only once or twice do I remember any public discussion of why people were losing their minds over the death of a stranger
I even remember a conversation with a school parent who was wondering whether to cancel a child's birthday party because of it

but now going by this thread, most people were thinking the same as me- where were you all at the time?

the people wanted to see her and the boys

Absolutely disgraceful. Who the fuck did they think they were?!

I was in my 20s and thought the whole hysteria around her death was weird and disturbing.

I didn't know her and was unaffected by her death. To my mind, it was a newsworthy event, just like any other.

What was even weirder was that the general view among those who were interested before she died was that she should have been spending time with her children in the holidays, not cavorting around on yachts with her boyfriend. Then all of a sudden, everyone decided she was a saint.

I didn't watch the funeral because it was of no interest to me.

Tony Fucking Blair annoyed me more than anything. I think people either don't know (because they are too young) or have forgotten what he was like.

I was in my mid-20s and remember it well. I rang my mum! It was pretty shocking - we drove to friends on the next day and it was all v quiet with flags at half mast.
I watched the funeral on tv and felt v sorry for the young princes.
Some people from work went to lay flowers, but we didn’t work that near and I never bothered!

The people whose taxes paid for their luxurious lifestyle.

The Blair government spotted political capital, and made the most of it.

I agree but tbh I also think that last year's social event where people flocked in huge numbers to walk past Elizabeth's coffin was in dreadful taste too.

I agree. The grief vultures and sickos love these events. Look at threads on here like when Nicola Bulley disappeared or the titanic sub incident. These people make me sick.