Last Hours, Death, Transfer from France, Funeral and Interment

[Denville]

Since it was a state funeral of course the RF were goig to attend...

 

[MARG]

She was also the mother of the Heir's heirs.

 

[Dman]

Does anyone know why all the royal family attended Diana's funeral? After all, she was divorced from Charles and in a normal scenario you would not expect all your ex-husbands family to attend your funeral.

Never underestimate the state of importance of who Diana was and her funeral arrangement. Once the future Queen consort, Mother of the second and third in line to the throne. The People’s Princess, global icon and humanitarian. The whole world was at that funeral.

 

[Curryong]

Yes, Dman. I think you are quite right. There was a lot of symbolism on display that week and it includes the funeral turnout.

 

[muriel]

Since it was a state funeral of course the RF were goig to attend...

It was not a state funeral.

 

[Denville]

In essence it was. THe RF organised it, it was using the palns for the Q mother's funeral, and it was because Diana was a former royal and a public figure...

 

[muriel]

In essence it was. THe RF organised it, it was using the palns for the Q mother's funeral, and it was because Diana was a former royal and a public figure...

I am afraid the former Princess did not have a state funeral. The Queen Mother did, as did Margaret Thatcher.

The Princess had a "unique" funeral reflecting her "unique" position as the mother of a future King, and the former wife of another future King.

 

[Osipi]

The last state funeral in the UK was in 1965 for Winston Churchill and that was an exception to the rule that state funerals are reserved for monarchs.

Diana's funeral was based on the plans already established for the Queen Mother's funeral but it was by no means a state funeral.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_funerals_in_the_United_Kingdom

 

[Denville]

The last state funeral in the UK was in 1965 for Winston Churchill and that was an exception to the rule that state funerals are reserved for monarchs.

Diana's funeral was based on the plans already established for the Queen Mother's funeral but it was by no means a state funeral.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_funerals_in_the_United_Kingdom

It was in essence. otherwise She would have been buried privately by her family, and not had a public dimension an the RF would not have been there...

 

[royal_enthusiast]

I loved Diana and thought the funeral was very appropriate and moving. In a normal scenario having all your ex-husbands family at your funeral would be unusual but Diana was the mother of a future King and given it was a royal funeral it would be protocol for all the royal family to attend. If I’m right I don’t believe it was a royal ceremonial funeral as there was no lying in state or military procession. Do you know which royals are entitled to a royal ceremonial funeral?

 

[Biri]

If I’m right I don’t believe it was a royal ceremonial funeral as there was no lying in state or military procession. Do you know which royals are entitled to a royal ceremonial funeral?

Definitely the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh are.

A day of Diana's funeral, was not a day off from work, was it?

 

[Osipi]

Regardless of the technicalities of what kind of a funeral Diana's was, what did happen was a funeral befitting of the person that she was. She was a part of the British royal family for years and worked for their "Firm". She was mother to a future king and even after the divorce, she brought attention to causes and issues that needed to be addressed and was loved by the people.

They made the right decision to have the funeral that they did for her. As the funeral was held on a Saturday, it wasn't a bank holiday where people got the day off work. I would imagine though that a lot of people that perhaps did have to work called in sick that day.

According to Wiki, Diana's funeral was not a state funeral but a royal ceremonial funeral.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funeral_of_Diana,_Princess_of_Wales#Funeral

 

[royal_enthusiast]

Is it pretty safe to say that Sarah, Duchess of York even though she is the mother of two blood princesses would not be accorded a royal funeral?

 

[O-H Anglophile]

Definitely the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh are.

A day of Diana's funeral, was not a day off from work, was it?

It was on a Saturday.

 

[O-H Anglophile]

I think the Queen and Prince Philip might have attended even if it had been a private funeral, simply to be of support to their grandsons.

 

[wyevale]

The People’s Princess,

MANY people [myself included] were relieved when the Divorce was announced, and finalised, and considered our Royal family 'well rid' of a woman whose narcissicism over-rode her PRIMARY responsibility to the Crown, that her son would one day wear.

Of course NO-ONE wanted her dead in the Alma Tunnel, but [in the later years of that disastrous marriage] her corrosive courting of the Press, endless self-publicism and PUBLIC antipathy toward her husband and his family caused many [including HMQ herself] to conclude that she and we would be happier and 'better off' if she were no longer part of the Royal Family.

I was saddened by her death, for her sons, family and for those that loved her [as I am for ALL deaths], but shed no tears for a figure whom I certainly didn't love, or even particularly like.

 

[Denville]

I think the Queen and Prince Philip might have attended even if it had been a private funeral, simply to be of support to their grandsons.

well we can't say.. I tink it would have been Charles, with the boys and the Spencer family and close friends....

 

[O-H Anglophile]

well we can't say.. I tink it would have been Charles, with the boys and the Spencer family and close friends....

Maybe, but William & Harry needed support from someone not as grief stricken as all those people. The all were dealing with their own loss.

 

[Denville]

I doubt if the rest of the RF would be invited.. Charles S did not have them at the interment in Althorp, and was clearly not very happy with them, at the time of the funeral....

 

[royal_enthusiast]

Does anyone know why the royal standard was placed on Diana’s coffin if she was not royal after her divorce?

 

[Lilyflo]

Yes it was discussed in the Sky documentary last year - https://news.sky.com/story/sky-news...anas-final-hours-and-enduring-legacy-10999890

 

[Elan]

Along wth Royal precedent or the family wanting privacy, was wondering about the decision to have a closed coffin the entire time after returning from France? It was remarked from those that did see her that other than a slight bruise to the forehead, she appeared fine and quite like herself.

As far as someone this well known, a closed coffin, and no visitation, seemed a little extreme.

 

[Heavs]

Open coffin isn't particularly common in the UK in general though it differs between religions and communities obviously.

Apart from anything else I guess the fact that she was so famous and the hysteria surrounding it was a factor. Can you imagine the mobbing? She was a private citizen at the time of her death. Family members may have had a private opportunity bit anyone else really didn't need to IMO.

 

[Osipi]

I would imagine too that if there was an open casket for public viewing, we'd still be seeing pictures of that splashed everywhere still. With a closed casket, people remember Diana as she was when she was alive and a vibrant human being. To me, the closed casket shows more respect for Diana.

 

[Elan]

I don't even want to think about mobbing, which may have materialized. And it's probably true that supermarkets would still be showing her this way. Otoh, there are other factors such as being known as the People's Princess, and thus for the public, closure is not the same as with Princess Grace for ex.

 

[Dman]

Along wth Royal precedent or the family wanting privacy, was wondering about the decision to have a closed coffin the entire time after returning from France? It was remarked from those that did see her that other than a slight bruise to the forehead, she appeared fine and quite like herself.

As far as someone this well known, a closed coffin, and no visitation, seemed a little extreme.

The viewing was probably only for family. We never see the bodies of any of the royal family after they’ve passed on. Although there are pictures of Queen Victoria and Edward VII in their death beds after their passing.

Charles and her sisters viewed her at the hospital in Paris.

 

[Denville]

The viewing was probably only for family. We never see the bodies of any of the royal family after they’ve passed on. Although there are pictures of Queen Victoria and Edward VII in their death beds after their passing.

Charles and her sisters viewed her at the hospital in Paris.

Different age...

 

[Elan]

Different age...

When you consider that with a 'closed' coffin it's a more difficult task of saying goodbye to that person..then it's an issue. This is why the choice of Princess Grace lying in state generally allowed more closure for what was an equally shocked and saddened country, who much admired her.

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

When you consider that with a 'closed' coffin it's a more difficult task of saying goodbye to that person..then it's an issue. This is why the choice of Princess Grace lying in state generally allowed more closure for what was an equally shocked and saddened country, who much admired her.

I think it is also a cultural difference. In Luxembour Grand-Duke Jean lies in an open coffin at the moment. The same for Queen Fabiola of the Belgians, a few years ago.

Prince Henrik of Denmark in 2018 however, or the Dutch royals in 2002 and 2004: all closed coffins.

 

[Osipi]

When you consider that with a 'closed' coffin it's a more difficult task of saying goodbye to that person..then it's an issue. This is why the choice of Princess Grace lying in state generally allowed more closure for what was an equally shocked and saddened country, who much admired her.

We faced this conundrum when my father died. Open casket? Closed casket? My dad died in Florida and there were many, many people in Michigan that hadn't seen him in years. I stated that I'd prefer a closed casket because I thought my dad would want people to remember him as he was and not how he looked at the time he died. We went with a recent picture and his cremains. For my mother, we had her cremains sitting next to a recent picture taken of her expressly for that purpose also. Me? I'm not even having a funeral at all and will be doing a full body donation to medical science. If people want, they can have a party and celebrate knowing me if they want but I refuse glum and gloomy funerals and memorials as I believe death is a graduation from life and not a sad occasion.

Each person is different. I agree with Diana's closed casket because then people remembered her as she was to them rather than the shell of who she once was lying in a box.