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Original poster

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

479 replies

ewenice · 14/04/2019 13:34

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?

OP posts:
DinaCaliente · 16/04/2019 11:05

My own mum died a few days before Diana, the public outpouring of grief for someone they didn't know personally really annoyed me at the time as I was dealing with the most acute grief myself.

SevenSeasofRye · 16/04/2019 15:50

They were discussing is on the Jeremy Vine show this morning.

SteelRiver · 16/04/2019 16:37

No. The whole thing was media hyped mass hysteria.

I was sad for her children that she was taken from them so young, but I didn't know her or follow her, I found her to be manipulative and a self-publicist, so that's where it stopped for me.

LittleAndOften · 16/04/2019 17:07

I remember hearing about the crash on the radio in the small hours, driving myself and my brother home from a night out in Bath. I was 17.

I remember normality feeling kind of suspended that week, and how shocking it was that the two princes were pushed out into the public eye to meet and greet.

There was a growing sense of outrage about Royal protocol trumping human emotion that week and I wonder now if the public wave of grief was in reaction to that. It was almost in defiance of the traditional British stiff upper lip - which Diana had shunned and people related to. There was also a sense in the public mood that she'd been mistreated and hard done-by when it came to the Establishment and I wonder if that was a factor too.

I watched the funeral on TV with my mum and we cried, as you do at funerals. Especially when Elton John sang. It was very moving. The passing of someone killed in tragic circumstances will always cause sadness, whether you knew them or not. Perhaps it was more empathy than true grief, who knows. The funeral cortege and the crowd's reactions were certainly extraordinary, but I never felt the need to question let alone ridicule people's reactions. It was a strange time. I still find it strangely fascinating.

WithAllIntenseAndPurposes · 16/04/2019 17:37

Compassionate leave is surely for people with sick and dying family members, family funerals to attend, etc. It's not so you can have a day at home with a bottle of wine howling along to Purple

GrinGrin

JenniferJareau · 16/04/2019 17:48

Compassionate leave is surely for people with sick and dying family members, family funerals to attend, etc. It's not so you can have a day at home with a bottle of wine howling along to Purple Rain.

But maybe he meant a lot to her and it was genuine grief? There are some mega fans out there who devote a huge amount of time to following musicians / bands and colleagues might not know.

babysharkah · 16/04/2019 18:04

No I was working in Argos that day. It was the quietest day ever, literally no customers.

HopeOverAnythingElse · 16/04/2019 18:12

Nah. Seriously just not taking that on.

If you don't know a person you don't stay home from work to grieve. If you do you are a dick.

People have to get signed off by a doctor to extend their leave when their children die, for goodness sake. Being unable to function because a celebrity dies is indulgent bullshit.

JenniferJareau · 16/04/2019 18:40

If you don't know a person you don't stay home from work to grieve. If you do you are a dick.

Wow, such a lack of empathy and understanding. Such a shame. I sincerely hope you never manage someone in a workplace.

HopeOverAnythingElse · 16/04/2019 18:42

What, I'd be a bad manager if one of my team phoned me in the morning asking if they could stay home because, I don't know, Meatloaf died, and I said no???

HopeOverAnythingElse · 16/04/2019 18:43

There are actual guidelines about compassionate leave, it's not just 'I feel blue because X' and off you pop. Confused

WikkiTikkiWoo · 16/04/2019 19:05

I went to London shortly after.. Not connected. The sea of dead flowers at Kensington Gardens was.. Very very weird.

GabrielleNelson · 16/04/2019 19:17

My workplace is very good about compassionate leave but anyone asking for a day off because a celebrity had died would get short shrift, and rightly so.

YouBumder · 16/04/2019 19:24

Taking compassionate leave for the death of a celebrity or member of the royal family, no matter how you felt about them, is pisstaking and beyond ridiculous. I’d never countenance such nonsense.

Fridakahlofan · 16/04/2019 19:57

My mum took me - I think I was about 12. One of few things I remember very clearly from that age.
I wouldn’t go to something like that now because it feels weird thinking about the young princes being gawped at. However to think of the positives it did feel like it was a very informative day for me - I learned about grief and felt a little bit a part of history in the making.

weleasewoderick22 · 16/04/2019 20:04

My mum and aunt went, they also signed the book of condolences. I was embarrassed about it and they couldn't understand why Hmm

bellabunny · 16/04/2019 20:35

I was living in London at the time and went to Kensington palace to pay my respects. I remember it as being a very depressing experience awash with dead and dying flowers in plastic wrappers.

However , Diana's death had a huge impact on me as she was almost the same age as me and I felt so desperately sorry for her boys. It's hard to explain now but it was a very sad time.

HopeOverAnythingElse · 16/04/2019 20:47

Wow guys, such a lack of empathy Grin

StillCoughingandLaughing · 16/04/2019 21:01

My mum and aunt went, they also signed the book of condolences. I was embarrassed about it and they couldn't understand why Hmm

I can’t either. Unless they did it with their knickers on their heads, how did it embarrass you?

lasttimeround · 16/04/2019 21:11

I lived in London at the time. Was totally bored of it all. I had taken dknrond to God airport very early that morning (or kaye at night) got a copy of the times printed before her death in the early hours slating diana on holiday with dodi or something. Really negative coverage anyway. They brought out a new fawning edition later that day and recalled that one. Made me laugh st the hypocrisy of it.

lasttimeround · 16/04/2019 21:13

Sorry crazy typos. Obviously not taken someone to God airport just the airport

ScrewyMcScrewup · 16/04/2019 22:08

Wow guys, such a lack of empathy

We're monsters! Anyone with a heart would give an employee a week off because somebody they had never met had died.

TheSandman · 17/04/2019 00:10

I can’t either. Unless they did it with their knickers on their heads, how did it embarrass you?

Because was a really naff thing to do?

ladybirdsarelovely33 · 17/04/2019 00:16

My folks lived in a part of London the funeral procession went past. It was a Saturday. I have never seen so many people in the usually empty suburban area come out to watch it go past as Princess Diana was taken to her final resting place. I didn't know her but I thought she was an amazing woman and she left behind two beautiful boys- unbelievably tragic.

StillCoughingandLaughing · 17/04/2019 00:32

Because was a really naff thing to do?

Let’s leave the fact that the question wasn’t directed at you aside for the moment. Why the hell would anyone be ‘embarrassed’ by their mother signing a book of condolence after a tragic death? Who is that obsessed with other people’s perception of them that they’d be actively embarrassed by this?

Maybe if that poster was a 12 year-old at the time and was cringing at her ‘embarrassment’ now, I'd be more sympathetic. But the stupid Hmm face 22 YEARS on makes me think she’s desperate to join the ‘I’m oh so far above anything this trivial’ brigade.