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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:
langdale2016 · 14/04/2019 15:05

I was due to get married on the day of the funeral (Sat 6th Sep) at Marylebone Register office. The cortege would be travelling right past the venue so we decided to change the date to the day before on Friday 5th Sep. It was a really frantic and stressful week but all the wedding suppliers were so supportive and worked with us to make it go as smoothly as possible. They were all relived that they wouldn't have to be working on that day too!

As we were staying at the Landmark hotel, we went to watch the cortege go past and then I laid my bouquet in Regent's Park, alongside other flowers.

I also saw a couple just coming out of the Register office and all their wedding guests hurried off to watch Princess Di's coffin go past. So, although I am no royalist, I was pleased we'd changed the date so Di didn't take our limelight and pleased also, that we could pay our respects.

limitedperiodonly · 14/04/2019 15:06

I also remember thinking about the mess that would have to be cleared up afterwards, the flowers where piled so deep on top of each other.

They composted them and spread it in royal parks. Or at least they said they did after getting the cellophane off

TroysMammy · 14/04/2019 15:06

I was quite annoyed that my tv watching agenda was messed up by the constant news reports.

ajandjjmum · 14/04/2019 15:07

Isn't it funny how so many people were far too cool to have been bothered about Diana's funeral, and yet can remember specifically what they were doing at the time.

We flew in from Sardinia on the day of her funeral - and I cried at the highlights!

Pinkruler · 14/04/2019 15:07

God no.

Billybagpuss we were in the Lake District too. Remember being bemused at the flowers left around the memorial statue in Kendal.

daisychain01 · 14/04/2019 15:07

Will be interesting to see what happens when the queen dies

When the Queen dies at a ripe old age, having lived a fulfilling healthy life, it will hardly be the same as people in the U.K. waking up to the news that a very public figure in the peak of her beauty, womanhood, and mother of two young sons had suddenly been killed in a tunnel in Paris after a high speed car crash, at the age of 36. Especially after all the controversy surrounding her marriage breakup.

Redcrayons · 14/04/2019 15:08

Where were all these dissenters when the country was grieving
I’m sure plenty of people weren’t interested at the time, Without social media, you wouldn’t have known then.

Looking back now it’s seems a bit strange but at the time it was all a bit of a frenzy.

daisychain01 · 14/04/2019 15:09

I was quite annoyed that my tv watching agenda was messed up by the constant news reports.

How unpleasant, about the death of a human being.

RSAcre · 14/04/2019 15:09

No way.
Hysterical, sycophantic nonsense.

Helmetbymidnight · 14/04/2019 15:09

i wasnt in england - my dad called and said:

'its terrible here, the country's gone nuts theres nothing but royals on telly'

youlladdressmeassir · 14/04/2019 15:10

God no

I remember my boss at the time mentioning that his wife wanted to fly to London to "pay her respects"

We were all just WTF

That's not because we were cool, it's because we couldn't understand the mass hysteria

IvanaPee · 14/04/2019 15:10

The flowers were lovely.

People are weird! Like they felt entitled to grieve as much as her family. Confused

I quite like the Royals as a sort of tourist attraction but yeah, people are absolutely bat shit.

Just why??

My MIL bought all this tacky memorabilia and went to some shrine somewhere? Cried her eyes out. Odd woman.

Like - you didn’t know her. You knew a cultivated public image. She also wasn’t very nice! Considering the visceral hatred of cheaters on here, it’s bizarre that she was so revered.

Im Irish though so I don’t get what it’s like to have that level of (obsession) love for a total stranger.

darkriver19886 · 14/04/2019 15:11

I was 10. I remember being in a car on the way back from holiday. My mum was crying about it. 🙄

It passed me by.

Helmetbymidnight · 14/04/2019 15:11

Isn't it funny how so many people were far too cool to have been bothered about Diana's funeral, and yet can remember specifically what they were doing at the time

not really, no

i remember where i heard elvis had died, lennon had been shot, etc, etc. people remember this stuff.

LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD · 14/04/2019 15:13

We live near the palace and were amazed at all the flowers. It was very very busy but the streets very quiet the day of the funeral.

I do remember some pricks in a local shop loudly making very bad taste comments the day she died. I asked them if they would be laughing if it was their mum. I’m not a fan of royalty (indeed lady do lost knocked me over once) but still.

LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD · 14/04/2019 15:13

Do lost - almost

JenniferJareau · 14/04/2019 15:14

Mumsnet is so weird about Diana. Where were all these dissenters when the country was grieving? Absolutely nowhere. Virtually everyone was caught up in it. It’s very fashionable now to say you were stone cold unmoved by it all. In reality hardly anyone was at the time.

So true.

RSAcre · 14/04/2019 15:15

Isn't it funny how so many people were far too cool to have been bothered about Diana's funeral, and yet can remember specifically what they were doing at the time.

Not really. It's entirely possible to be aware of a massive news event withut being in the least emotionally invested in it.

Sparklingbrook · 14/04/2019 15:16

I only remember where I was because I came downstairs and put the TV on and the channel that came on had the rolling news coverage on. So I was in my living room.

Helmetbymidnight · 14/04/2019 15:17

well, the sudden death of a young mother is always going to be upsetting. i don't think anyone would say otherwise.

however, the way people behaved, like it was their mother or daughter, is certainly an....interesting psychological phenomena....

NunoGoncalves · 14/04/2019 15:19

Mumsnet is so weird about Diana. Where were all these dissenters when the country was grieving? Absolutely nowhere. Virtually everyone was caught up in it. It’s very fashionable now to say you were stone cold unmoved by it all. In reality hardly anyone was at the time

I don't know if that's true. It's easy to think that EVERYONE is upset about something when the ones who are are so vocal and showy about it. While admittedly many millions of people were upset, and it was obviously a huge huge topic of news and discussion, I'm fairly sure there were also millions of people who weren't any more emotionally invested than they are in any other major news story of the week.

Helmetbymidnight · 14/04/2019 15:19

Isn't it funny how so many people were far too cool to have been bothered about Diana's funeral, and yet can remember specifically what they were doing at the time

yeah i remember where i was when i heard osama bin laden had been captured/killed what does that say about my feelings about it? (f-all)

IvanaPee · 14/04/2019 15:19

Someone upthread called it vicarious grief. That was it. So vulgar.

I’m sure people thought they were being respectful but actually, turning a young woman’s funeral into a spectacle is the complete opposite.

Silvercatowner · 14/04/2019 15:19

I did. It was a previously planned trip and we (me and son, who was - I think - around 8) detoured to walk past Buckingham Palace at the height of the display of flowers etc. I found it extremely creepy. Most of the messages were innocuous but there were some that were very odd.

Welcometotherock · 14/04/2019 15:20

I didn't go and I am not a royalist but I was sad for her son's.
I can kind of understand why people might though if they felt particularly connected and there are plenty of cases of celebrities dying and even terror attacks and such where people come out and show they care about another human being.
I have followed a group for 30 years. I can imagine if one of them died people would want to go or would lay flowers. People still lay flowers on the anniversary of Freddie Mercury's death three decades later.

Terror attacks too. I accept a terror attack in your city is slightly different as it is close to home but plenty of people from other cities and even countries were there sobbing and distressed when I took DD to lay flowers for her friend.

Although even as someone who has worked in media I had to laugh at the journalist above calling people nuts and grief tourists as the media definitely has a hand in fueling all this with the headlines and stories they publish. That said they were just plain awful in Manchester. During the two minute silence when the bells chimed up at the exact time of the attack some of the young girls near me started crying and they had zooms and non stop clicking right in their faces the whole time.

Bloody vultures. Angry