To ask if any of you went to London for Princess Diana's funeral?

[ewenice]

Just watching a documentary about the week following Princess Diana's death and the overwhelming outpouring of grief that crossed the country. We were living overseas at the time so had no idea of the effect it had.

Did anyone on here go down to London during that week for the funeral or to sign the condolence books?

I will say it was a shocking event and as a child whose father had died when I was 8 I felt strongly for William and Harry but I still maintain the level of hysteria was weird. I thought dragging them out to talk to sobbing people who hadn't even known their mother was more than a bit off, too.

Its strange that it was so unimportant, and yet the thread is stirring up such strong emotions.

Not really. The key to understanding it is that there are two things being discussed here, people's feelings on the death of Diana per se and people's feelings on the way things were for the couple of weeks afterwards. It seems quite obvious to me that an individual could well have strong feelings on one but not the other. The whole situation was just a phenomenon really, wasn't it?

On reflection I think her situation resonated with a lot of women. It was basically an arranged marriage which she was too young and naive to recognise as such - remember she was 19. She discovered the ongoing involvement with the other woman on her honeymoon. She had eating disorders and mental health problems. If she was here today, posting on MN she’d get nothing but sympathy.

Add to that her undeniable charisma - a quality lacking in most of the Royal family - her adoration of her children, the way the camera loved her and her obvious humanity - again unlike the rest of the family - and it’s easy to see why she was iconic.

I remember the shock of her dying and feeling sad, but that was it. I remember being in town one day and there were a lot of people queuing to sign this book of remembrance. I was waiting for my bus and the woman next to me asked if I’d signed, I said no and I didn’t want to miss my bus. She gave me such a filthy look. She must have thought I was heartless.

No. I was working at the time so if it was during the week I wouldn't have got time off. I'm sure my half sisters and brother brought flowers to Buck Palace (weirdos).

I kind of felt I knew her as I was 12/13 when she got engaged etc but I didn't 'know her' - so any sort of 'feelings' I would have felt silly about having - as she was a public figure.

It was on a saturday morning

I was quite young when she died (about 13 I think) and even at that age I remember thinking the "outpouring of grief" was quite ridiculous.

I didn't think it was ridiculous, but I did find it kind of embarrassing. All the funerals I have ever been to have involved a lot of respect for the family of the deceased. If they want a celebration of the person's life we celebrate; if they want to be sombre and sad we walk in quietly and cry silently.
The last funeral I went to was a total mixture, stories about the person who had died, laughter, crying, celebration of who he was.
The difference with Diana was people who had never met her weeping and wailing, whilst her sons were keeping a dignified silence.
I don't see any reason why people shouldn't go to pay their respects if they want to, but standing silently might well have been more appropriate.

I was a student at the time working at McDonald's. The McDonald's I worked at (in the north) was closed for the morning out of respect. When it reopened, it looked like a tidal wave of people coming through the door, it was one of our busiest days ever, it was all quite strange, grief must have made people very hungry.

Just sums up how fickle people really are
'Waaahhh it's terrible Lady Di died 😭😭😭'
Okay let's all have a McDonald's

No, it shows they were hungry and thirsty. Refreshments after a funeral are traditional. I expect a lot of them needed a loo, too.

I was 8 and my nan took me. I don't remember a thing about it.

I hate the "outpouring of grief" after a celebrity death.

I got reported by the (very silly) lady I sat next to in work at the time, on the grounds of "not being sad enough about Diana

A colleague of mine applied for compassionate leave when Prince died. I'm not joking.

it was one of our busiest days ever, it was all quite strange, grief must have made people very hungry.

It would have been a lot odder if faux-grief for someone they'd never met had made the general public go on a self-imposed hunger strike, surely. Or do you think it's odd that most funerals also conclude with food and drink, even when the people involved are actually mourning a friend or family member, not participating in mass grief tourism?

I'm confused, how do you know people going into McDonalds were grieving? You weren't near any of the sites where mourners gathered?

I went to Kensington Palace to see the flowers either just before or just after the funeral. Had a medical appointment nearby so went to see more out of curiosity than anything.

Can’t say I was massively affected by it beyond thinking how Sad it was for a young woman to be killed so needlessly, and for two children to lose their mother.

I remember the flowers about a week after Diana died. The smell was awful, people had left flowers in plastic and the rotten smell was awful.
It was a weird time in London, people spoke to strangers. Not my typical experience of living in London at all.
I also felt very sorry for William and Harry. They were so young and had to deal with all that madness.

A friend of mine died and left four children, they were by then young adults. I was doing fine until I saw them in the church, two of them gave a beautiful eulogy. I was in pieces. I snuck out of the church, sat in my car and wept hard. I did not go to the do afterwards I was in bits. I was so shocked by my own reaction but perhaps it was because those lovely young people grew up with my own DC`s and I grieved for them and had so many memories.

When Diana died my sadness was for the children. I would not have gone to London funeral even if I had lived there.

No I did not go to the funeral! I had sex in south London instead! I lived in London when it all happened, was actually away on holiday when she died and then had to fly back in the most miserable plane load of people ever, even the flight attendants were morose instead of smiley. Someone said at the time that it was like we weren’t allowed to smile or be happy, utterly ridiculous mob rule mentality, it was actually quite disturbing in that sense: you WILL be sad, a la North Korean mass show of emotion. Thankfully none of my mates gave a damn either, so we just watched videos and avoided the tv. The sex during the funeral wasn’t planned, but I was hanging out with my on-off partner and it just happened to be at the same time. I remember Steve Bell's cartoons with the keening penguins were very good on all of it.

When the King of Thailand died there was a year of mourning. I have seen funerals abroad Diana`s was pretty restrained.

I do wonder if the Irish do not have it right, body in the house, plenty of food, drink and memories. A good funeral then a tea.

I was young, but I do remember a lot of people from my home town going onto a bridge on the M1 to throw flowers as the procession went past. Weird looking back. My DM was very upset by it all, travelled down to put flowers outside Buckingham Palace. Each to their own I guess

Hell no, it was all utterly bizarre. I was at home with the flu and all I can remember is feeling dreadfully poorly.

A colleague of mine applied for compassionate leave when Prince died. I'm not joking

When the King of Thailand died there was a year of mourning

But that's in the context of a country where he was regarded as semi-divine by the end of his long reign, where the monarch has in practice enormous constitutional powers (including in his case trying to inhibit democracy by refusing to sign bills extending franchise into law) and where anyone who criticised him was imprisoned or exiled.

It's a bit different to a politically-irrelevant royal ex-wife who wore nice clothes, made some very dubious romantic decisions, and whose popularity was on the wane before her sudden death.

It's a bit different to a politically-irrelevant royal ex-wife who wore nice clothes, made some very dubious romantic decisions, and whose popularity was on the wane before her sudden death. You forgot 'brood mare'