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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:
runsmidgeOMG · 14/04/2019 16:09

I was about 9 at the time. I remember my Nan calling the landline and telling me, I was a bit meh and passed the the news on to mum once I'd hung up quite blasé in tone.

The shock on mums face told me she was someone important, then I think we followed the whole thing on TV as it unfolded.

I've watched numerous documentaries during my adult life, more to catch up on what I'd not really taken notice of as a child.

I think I would have liked to attend out of curiosity BUT if time travel was an option I wouldn't as I will forever feel sorry for the poor boys (as they were at the time) walking behind their mothers coffin with the eyes of the world on them.

SweetMarmalade · 14/04/2019 16:09

I really liked Diana.

I was about 12 when I watched her marry Charles. We had a day off school. I kept a scrap book of photos of her. Thought she was beautiful.

Fast forward to the time of her death, I was 29 and on holiday in Turkey with dp. It was quite surreal watching the headlines and not quite believing the news of her death and the circumstances surrounding it. We (and most other holidaymakers) were stunned and upset. We watched the funeral in one of the bars and it was packed. I felt so sad about the whole situation.

I’ve felt quite emotional about other deaths too. Kurt Cobain, Freddie Mercury, Prince, Keith Flint, David Bowie and many others but not quite the way Diana’s death affected me.

Pliudev · 14/04/2019 16:12

No. But I did get told to 'get off the phone' by a duty officer at the BBC when I rang five days after Diana's death to ask if there was any point in their news team stopping random people on the street to ask 'how they felt'. I said that I realised it was very sad for her family and particularly her sons but I couldn't see why they were prolonging the coverage in that way. She asked me if I lived in London and when I said no she said people in London were very upset and I should 'get off the phone'. I remember reading that it allowed people to deal with grief that they had previously suppressed but it seemed to me to verge on hysteria.

IvanaPee · 14/04/2019 16:12

It’s not obtuse to think it a bit odd that someone would wear purple shoes to watch tv, Limited! Or to wonder why a dead stranger would give a shit!

kalinkafoxtrot45 · 14/04/2019 16:13

I remember feeling sorry for the kids but that’s it. I was indifferent to Diana while she lived and was no sadder about her passing than about that of any random stranger. The whole public spectacle of grief was ridiculous and we just spent that week avoiding the TV.

HopeOverAnythingElse · 14/04/2019 16:13

The Queen isn't a good comparison though: the equivalent would be if Kate died out of the blue now.

I suspect the whole country would go into utter meltdown again, only this time it would be worse because social media.

It would probably give me the kick I need to emigrate though.

habibihabibi · 14/04/2019 16:15

I lived in Kensington then. The tube was full of sad souls and the station absolutely mobbed for days after her death and funeral. There acres of flowers and ribbon and cellophane at Ken Palace.
I remember thinking it would be better if people gave the money they spent on bouquets to a charity Diana supported.
In the early hours of one morning after the funeral there were jcbs and dump trucks pushing up and collecting all the debris.

limitedperiodonly · 14/04/2019 16:21

It's the high-minded horror at the tawdriness that makes me laugh.

It's not like mass outpourings of grief over popular public figures are unheard of. Rudolph Valentino, Eva Peron, John F Kennedy, Martin Luther King.

These were people who many ordinary people felt connected to. Princess Diana had her bonkers moments (for which I love her) but you cannot deny that she did some good along the way. I didn't grieve for her but I recognised that her death was a significant event which touched many people and you cannot dismiss them as hysterical.

Trull · 14/04/2019 16:23

We know exactly what will happen when the queen dies -- they've been rehearsing it for decades:

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/mar/16/what-happens-when-queen-elizabeth-dies-london-bridge

limitedperiodonly · 14/04/2019 16:23

You obviously don't share our sense of humour IvanaPee. That's okay. It takes all sorts.

IvanaPee · 14/04/2019 16:24

They were hysterical though. That’s the point. Not everyone but a lot of them.

Imagine having to step over some caterwauling ninny at a tube station!

And while I do take your point about other public figures, Martin Luther King isn’t comparable.

Diana did some charity work, yes. But it’s hardly the same level.

IvanaPee · 14/04/2019 16:25

Oh, the purple shoe thing was a joke?!

PortiaCastis · 14/04/2019 16:25

We were in London when the news came through and I remember my Father said "best if we get on home fast as we're better off away from here" so we duly found ourselves at Paddington to get a train home.

I was 16 at the time and wrapped up in thoughts of my bf but the one scene that upset me was those poor boys walking behind their mother's coffin and the wreath saying Mummy God that was awful and I cried a lot

RSAcre · 14/04/2019 16:26

*It was a weird time and some people got carried away but I find the people insisting they were unmoved weirder.

It was an extraordinary event and claiming to be indifferent shows a strange perspective and incuriosity. Almost revelling in it. It was phenomenal.*

Genuinely don't understand why you would find indifference weird.
Have you not considered that many millions of people are simply unmoved by celebrity culture?

It was phenomenal because the media were invested in making Diana a phenomenon. Had Diana not been pretty & photogenic, no one would have given much of a shit.

TalkinPaece · 14/04/2019 16:28

I refused to sign the book of condolence at work because I had not known her.
The roads were lovely and quiet that day.
I was furious that all comedy programmes were pulled from Radio 4 that might take the mick at the insanity of it all

SlappingJoffrey · 14/04/2019 16:28

It's interesting the unwillingness to accept some of us speaking our truth about how we felt at the time from some quarters, and attempts to dismiss and minimise it. I was just 12 and felt quite worried and alienated by the whole thing, the world seemed to have gone mad around me. I know now that this isn't the first time in human history that people have behaved like that when a public figure died, but I didn't at the time. It did look hysterical to me. Quite literally, in some cases.

Eliza9919 · 14/04/2019 16:30

We went on the day of the funeral. We saw Alan from EastEnders and people were trying to get autographs/pictures and he had to tell them today wasn't the day for that.

Eliza9919 · 14/04/2019 16:30

We were 16/17.

limitedperiodonly · 14/04/2019 16:31

I did get told to 'get off the phone' by a duty officer at the BBC when I rang five days after Diana's death to ask if there was any point in their news team stopping random people on the street to ask 'how they felt'.

Good for her. I'd have said exactly the same thing Pliudev. People who have to answer the phone to tiresome people like you should get a bonus or at least an intense debriefing session where they can lie on a couch and talk out all the calls they've taken from people droning on about all the other more important things that should be reported on.

HopeOverAnythingElse · 14/04/2019 16:32

It's really not weird to be indifferent to a stranger dying.

Millions and millions of people have died since Diana. Did you grieve for all of them?

No? Wow, such stunning indifference Confused

allthegoodusernameshavegone · 14/04/2019 16:33

Nope, never entered my head and I didn’t sign any daft book either

NunoGoncalves · 14/04/2019 16:35

It was phenomenal

You've admitted to being a journalist so your opinion on the whole thing is probably quite skewed. It certainly was a media phenomenon. But thankfully there are still a fair few people out there whose emotions are not dictated by the media.

People are only having to INSIST that they weren't particularly interested because so many others seem intent to disbelieve it. As if people must for some reason be lying about how they felt.

Villageidiots · 14/04/2019 16:35

I worked in Buckinghamshire and a colleague was collecting money to buy some flowers from our team to place at the palace. I didn't contribute and she was quite put out. I felt sorry for her sons and shocked when I heard the news but that was all. It didn't affect me personally.

WeaselsRising · 14/04/2019 16:37

I thought about going up for the funeral but had 4 under 12s and couldn't work out the logistics, so stayed at home and watched it on TV. We did go up to London to see the flowers and walked the poor DC from Buck House to Kensington Palace. The smell of the flowers was cloying and so strong.

I'd never been a huge Diana fan so I was shocked to be shocked as it were. I'd lost my DF and a favourite Uncle during that year so I was pretty unhinged to start with. For me it was the incredulity that somebody so famous and so feted could just die like that, in such a stupid way. I guess it was a stark reminder of my own mortality.

I met DH at a party on the day of the RW, 3 of our DC share birthdays with some of the RF and Diana was the same age as DH so I think it felt just a bit too close to home. We didn't go in for the weeping and wailing but there was just this huge sense of shock.

CKWattisthemanager · 14/04/2019 16:41

It was phenomenal. Phenomenal enough for. David Badiel to write a novel about it. For all the faults I would love our country to be a lot like the times were back then.