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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:
Puzzledandpissedoff · 14/04/2019 16:46

she insisted on watching the hearse drive up to Norfolk for three hours after the funeral

It was going the wrong way if so ... Althorp's in Northamptonshire rather than Norfolk Wink

I don’t think that everyone was devastated and caught up in it at all

You're right; many felt sad though not devastated, but saying so at the time was tantamount to killing little bunnies. I don't dare think what it would have been like now, in a world full of social media Hmm

ThePlaceToVent · 14/04/2019 16:46

No - my first baby was due - that day!

Evilspiritgin · 14/04/2019 16:49

I watched at home with my mum, I felt sorry for her, but the thing that got me was the general public baying for the queen and Prince Charles to show themselves when they were busy with 2 young boys who’s mother had just been killed, I was quite disgusted with the British public for doing that

lazyarse123 · 14/04/2019 16:50

I felt sorry for her sons. But otherwise unaffected I don't get the public outpouring of grief for people you don't know especially celebrities. It's always sad when someone dies but that's as far as it goes for me.

limitedperiodonly · 14/04/2019 16:54

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

I'm not a huge fan of Diana but are you seriously trying to deny the significance of greeting people with HIV at the at the end of their lives at the London Lighthouse with hugs when no other public figure would be seen in the same room with them?

Princess Anne, patron of Save The Children which represents many AIDS orphans or HIV-infected children, once disgracefully called the disease an 'own goal' for the human race. Strange woman.

Diana did this at a point when even some ambulance staff would not touch people they believed to have HIV. That's the extent of the fear surrounding the disease in the late 1980s. She broke that down.

I can still see in my mind's eye the groundbreaking picture of her sitting on the bed of a frail young man in the hospice and them laughing together. I can even remember her dress - blue with flowers on it. It was that important.

She was a silly cow and sometimes a spiteful one, but her work for people with HIV was a big thing. If you don't recognise it, then I can't help you.

SlappingJoffrey · 14/04/2019 16:56

Norfolk, Northamptonshire, it was all down south to me!

Honestly though, we had one telly between seven people. It was unheard of for something to be on for like six hours that only one person was watching. I actually still remember the argument!

tillytrotter1 · 14/04/2019 16:57

I cut the grass and the neighbours complained!

ineedtostopbeingsolazy · 14/04/2019 16:59

I worked in Hammersmith at that time and I got off the tube and went to Kensington palace and saw the flowers. But I didn't go to see anything else or the funeral

SaveKevin · 14/04/2019 16:59

Didn’t go to the funeral but did go to look at the flowers. They were incredible, I’ve never seen anything like it.
Although I’d imagine the charity’s could have done a lot with all that money.

JacquesHammer · 14/04/2019 17:01

No. I didn’t know her.

The press was fascinating in the months after though, I ended up using it as part of an A-level
Project.

Outlookmainlyfair · 14/04/2019 17:01

I live 5 mins walk away and it was a right pain - there were crowds even at rush hour. I felt sorry seeing all the 3-7year old s holding flowers looking bewildered being dragged into adult emotions. I escaped over the funeral as I could not cope with the surge of mourners.

DrDreReturns · 14/04/2019 17:02

I remember hearing about her death and I was unmoved by it. When you hear major news stories it sticks in your mind. I remember hearing about 9/11, that doesn't make me a jihadi.

BishopBrennansArse · 14/04/2019 17:03

I went up a few nights before the funeral out of fascination for the spectacle of heaps of flowers 4ft high and I'm telling you the atmosphere was fucking weird. I knew it'd be a historical event and I'm a bit of a geek about wanting to experience events that will prove to be historic. It was fucking unhinges, though.

limitedperiodonly · 14/04/2019 17:06

Have you not considered that many millions of people are simply unmoved by celebrity culture?

I'm rarely moved by the deaths of people I don't know RSAcre. But that doesn't mean I don't recognise the impact that celebrities have on our culture.

I find the wilful refusal to acknowledge that mulish.

And it's not a new thing. Rudolph Valentino died in 1926 and 100,000 people lined the streets on his funeral procession. Most of them probably wanted to be involved in a spectacle. But it was a big deal and it's fruitless to deny it.

IvanaPee · 14/04/2019 17:06

Limited, I’m not denying the work she did. It was wonderful.

I still think the outpouring was ridiculous and OTT.

TroysMammy · 14/04/2019 17:09

daisychain01 a human being I didn't know. Anyway why pick on my post and not the ones before?

tillytrotter1 · 14/04/2019 17:10

Well done in finding the Private Eye feature, they nailed the press hypocrisy.
I never understood the odium against the Queen, for the first time in her reign she put family first. The great unwashed didn't need her to lead their grief as some claimed, her place was with her grandsons.

NunoGoncalves · 14/04/2019 17:11

But that doesn't mean I don't recognise the impact that celebrities have on our culture

I find the wilful refusal to acknowledge that mulish

Why are you conflating "I didn't feel much interest in it"/"I wasn't moved by it" as "it wasn't a major cultural event"?

NigesFakeWalkingStick · 14/04/2019 17:11

I was 12 and lived in Norfolk so no. I didn't watch the funeral as I was riding my bike. I did make some kind of weird piece of art that I dedicated to her on the day she died. Dunno why.

HopeOverAnythingElse · 14/04/2019 17:12

But an event of cultural significance doesn't mean every citizen had to have some personal feelings about it.

If I had any at all, it would be akin to England winning at football - basically 'fuck sake, we'll never hear the end of this'.

cortex10 · 14/04/2019 17:12

We didn't watch the funeral on TV. Had a lovely drive out to a local forest with our then 2 year old - passed hardly any vehicles on the way (can't think of any other time when I've seen the roads so quiet unless it's snowing) and hardly anyone was at the forest which is usually very busy at weekends.

Mumsymumphy · 14/04/2019 17:14

No I didn't go. I was in my early 20s when she died and my daughter was 4. I felt sorry for the boys. I remember my mum crying at the news. I remember feeling sad that someone and something good had gone from the world when she died.

limitedperiodonly · 14/04/2019 17:14

Why are you conflating "I didn't feel much interest in it"/"I wasn't moved by it" as "it wasn't a major cultural event"?

I'm not. You are imagining things NunoGoncalves

Trull · 14/04/2019 17:15

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.

She was a socialite who didn't wear a seatbelt. Hmm

limitedperiodonly · 14/04/2019 17:20

I didn't say otherwise