Just for the memories- where were you / what were you doing when you heard Diana had died?

[MarchionessVonSausage]

The thread about Earl Spencer's book made me think of this.

I'm Australian, the news came through early on a weekend morning, a Sunday I think. I was 22 and driving to pick up a girlfriend who'd had a disastrous night and ended at some random guy's house in the city. When she got in the car she was exhausted and still half pissed. I told her the news and she passed out. I took her home to bed.

She called me later saying "I dreamt Princess Diana died" and I told her to turn on the tv. Ah, memories of youth.

Watching Ceefax news at home in Middlesex. Very surreal feeling.

I was at a car boot sale with my dad and there was a radio for sale on one of stalls and it was saying the news as we walked past.

I was breastfeeding my youngest while elder child was watching cartoons. An announcement came on and said to tune into a news channel. Or was it a message that flashed up on the screen? Either way my child was miffed at having the tv turned over!

Sunday morning DH shook me awake saying "Diana is dead". I was so confused because we didn't know a Diana. The TV was on I sat up and listened to the BBC news. It didn't seem real.

I was in St Tropez, staying in a rich friend's family holiday home. I was up quite early and another friend phoned from London to say had i heard the news. I said no, he said turn on the telly now.

Later we went into town. She and Dodi had been there a few days before and there had been rumours they were coming back. The sense of shock was very evident, though the swimwear shop which changed its display to all-black bikinis (very expensive ones) did make us smile.

I was sleeping. My mum came in drunk and woke me up to tell me.

Driving. I'd just set off and was taking the bend to drive out of the village where I lived, off on a holiday to Norfolk.

I'd been out all night at a party and it was on the news as we got home.

A friend of mine came to visit for a few days the next day and I was delighted that his car boot was full of sci fi videos. It allowed us to escape the non-stop news coverage.

Sunday morning, dh and ds1 lying in upstairs. I went downstairs for breakfast and put Radio 4 on. I couldn't get my head round why there appeared to be a long eulogy about Diana in full flow. I think I must have then put the TV on where there was a tickertape banner explaining she had died. I rang my sister to tell her.

It was late at night/early morning and I had the TV on (night owl that I am). They announced that Diana had been in a serious car accident in Paris and had been taken to the hospital. I'm not positive but I think they did say the driver was deceased, because it hit me it was probably very, very bad. I sat in front of the TV and said a prayer for her.
After some time, they announced she was deceased. I cried for her friends and loved ones and just sat there, shocked and sad. I always knew she wasn't perfect but I liked her and admired her, foibles and all.
The picture I kept remembering was her with W&H at WDW after they were coming off the water ride. Pure joy, love and having fun was on their faces. It's always stuck with me.

I used to have the radio on all night and the playing of the national anthem woke me up.

I got up in the morning and came out of my bedroom, as per usual. The first thing my mum said was 'Princess Diana has died'. I was like, no, don't be silly, to which she replied 'really, she died early hours in a crash'

It did seem unreal, probably because she was such an icon and still is. I remember turning on the TV, most programmes had been suspended.

Later on we went out in the car and radio stations had suspended their programs too and were playing soft/classical music/love songs. That seemed to go on for days.

Then watching on TV the wall of flowers being left in her memory that turned into an ocean of floral tributes and people openly crying and grieving on the streets.

I was an AOL Guide and was working online in a chat room late night when the news came through. The internet lit up and I ended up working online until the early hours. Remember it well.

Pregnant with my oldest and my mother was visiting as we had just moved i to our first house. Dh was at our old house cleaning up. We heard on the news. My mother was a huge Diana fan and she was very moved.

Before my mother returned to my birth country we went to see the flowers at Kensington Palace. I don't think I will ever forget the sweet slightly off smell of the woltering flowers and wow there was a lot of them..

I was in France driving home after a holiday. DH had the TV on, but for some reason the sound was turned off and I thought it odd I glimpsed a clip of the Princess with the Princes going down the flume at Thorpe Park. The only clean clothes I had left was a black dress, I went down to breakfast in the hotel and people sort of nodded / bowed their heads. It was only when I tried to tune in to the Archers omnibus on the motorway that I heard the very sad news.

I was in bed and heard the news on the radio alarm clock. I woke up thinking I'd dreamt it.

I was 19 and at home, I had got up quite early on that sunday morning as my brother was going to be driving me back for my second year of uni that morning. As I went downstairs my mum was sat watching the TV, she turned to me and said that Diana had died, and she was a bit tearful.

On the day that we dropped my youngest daughter off for her second year of uni we walked into the hotel room that afternoon (driving back the next day, put the TV on and about ten minutes later the broadcaster announced that the queen had died. It just felt very surreal.

I used to have the radio on all night as a teen. I heard it in dribs and drabs as I slept. My parents had had friends for dinner who stayed over and when I came down in the morning and told them all they thought I was mistaken at first until they switched on the TV.

sleepover with my best friend. Her mum came in all screaming we didn’t understand what was happening. Scared us both. She was a huge Diana fan and I was sent home immediately.

I was in bed and woke to find radio 4 was strangely different. It took me awhile to take it in. I rang my friend to tell her.

I was at work, and there was a radio on in the background, that mentioned that she had been injured in a car crash in Paris. Didn't think too much of it. Managed to nip back to the accommodation to grab a couple of hours sleep before the ward round, and was woken by my flat mates hammering on the door to say she had died. They were rather surprised that I had happily tried to grab a nap rather than waking them all up to tell them she'd been reported as injured. Weird.

You realise Middlesex is a postal district, not an actual place?

My parents were away that weekend and I spent a rather enjoyable 😉 weekend staying at my now DH's house. (I was 18).

Sunday morning, I was still in bed and DH came and told me to get up as something had happened to the Royal Family. I muttered something along the lines of 'Oh, has Queen Mum died', got up and seen older footage of Charles and boys walking round Balmoral estate but it was only when they cut back to the actual studio and the news reader read the main headlines we realised it was Diana.

I do remember the absolute hounding the press were giving her at that point, it was almost inevitable.

Just want to note though as I'm still annoyed - I had to work on the day of her funeral as the local Council decided to keep public libraries open - not a single person came in all day! Must have been the only person in UK working that wasn't in a life or death job!

We were up really late - had been out somewhere and heard it on the news as we were going to bed.

On my way home from a night out - I’d crashed at a friends and left early in the morning. The radio music choice was really depressing , every so often there was a recorded message that she’d died .