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


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The person you think was Sophie was Serena Linley.
 
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I heard that Diana had worn that too. I think I read it in A Royal Duty by Paul Burrell or something.
 
Lovelydiana said:
I heard that Diana had worn that too. I think I read it in A Royal Duty by Paul Burrell or something.
Paul Burrell said that she was buried "with a few simple rings". Whether that included her wedding band is anyone's guess.

It's unclear what happened to her engagement ring. I am sure it is being kept for her sons, because that would seem most likely, but her will did not itemize jewelry or possessions. Whether William or Harry specifically received it is unknown to anyone but them, really.
 
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Le Chat Noir said:
I read somewhere the royal standard flag was ripped from Princess Diana's coffin and replaced with the Spencer flag during the final ceremony. Is it true? Just wondering. I don't know much about Princess Diana and the British Royalty. I don't really pay attention to them that much.
Again, according to Paul Burrell, the only non-family member at the graveside service, Earl Spencer removed the royal standard from Diana's casket upon her arrival at Althorp prior to her burial and replaced it with the Spencer flag.

Whether that is true or not is unknown, since Burrell is the only witness to have said so, and he does have somewhat of an axe to grind with the Spencers. Unless someone else who was there comes forward to affirm or deny his statement, we can't be sure how accurate it is.
 
Princess Diana Island and Statue

http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=23668&n_tit=Karjat%3A+NRI+Dr+Arjun+Gaur+Creates+Princess+Diana+Island

"Humanitarian work played a crucial role in the Princess' life, both at home and abroad. Her overseas missions to Angola, Bosnia, Pakistan and India struck a chord with me." The marble statue of Princess Diana is handcrafted by traditional artisans in Jaipur painstakingly over a period of one year. "I want to leave no stone unturned in my tribute to Princess Diana," says Dr Gaur.

http://www.cambridgeindia.com/

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/6613/dianastatue13xe.gif
 
Althorp was already opened to the public before Princess Diana's death. I visited Althorp on my honeymoon in the summer of 2000. The museum was very tasteful and the gift shop was modest. Her wedding gown was a wondrous sight to see and there were several recognizable dresses on display as well. I met Earl Spencer there and he was very nice. He signed several of the books I bought and posed for pictures. He was a gracious host. The house was such a treat to visit and felt much like a home. There were pictures of Diana and her sons on the grand piano, portraits of the family through the years hanging in the salon. I remembered the stories Diana would tell about them sitting on the steps at Christmas time. There were games under the table in a family living area. We were told that the twins birthday had just occured and Mrs. Shand-Kidd had been there to visit. Walking outside I saw the wall where Diana had stood with her ballet slippers on and it was a special moment to visualize the memory. Touring the Round Oval was quiet and very respectful. This was no tourist trap. Diana's memory can be savored here, after all this is where she grew up. Northamptonshire is a lovely area, much like the countrysides here in Virginia. It is a trip that will forever live in my memory and I plan to return there again in the future.
 
maryshawn said:
Her favorite designer, Catherine Walker, contributed a black dress Diana had purchased but never picked up.

Actually, Catherine Walker wrote in her autobiography that the dress Diana was buried in was one Catherine selected. It was not one that Diana had ever seen, but, rather, one that Catherine felt Diana would have liked. There were two gowns that Catherine had waiting for Diana to pick up, but that particular dress wasn't one of them. Walker has always kept the details of the dress she donated private.
 
ClassicRoyal said:
It is a trip that will forever live in my memory and I plan to return there again in the future.

Thank you very much for sharing your experience.
 
sassie said:
Actually, Catherine Walker wrote in her autobiography that the dress Diana was buried in was one Catherine selected. It was not one that Diana had ever seen, but, rather, one that Catherine felt Diana would have liked. There were two gowns that Catherine had waiting for Diana to pick up, but that particular dress wasn't one of them. Walker has always kept the details of the dress she donated private.

Paul Burrell also claimed to have picked the dress she was buried in. Mind you, he claimed to have picked the Christina Stambolian dress she wore to the Serpentine Gallery, which proved to be such a front-page sensation. People do like to rewrite history!
 
Elspeth said:
Paul Burrell also claimed to have picked the dress she was buried in. Mind you, he claimed to have picked the Christina Stambolian dress she wore to the Serpentine Gallery, which proved to be such a front-page sensation. People do like to rewrite history!

I thought he meant that he selected the dress that Mrs. Jay donated for the Princess to wear temporarily. That is what his book says, or, at least, that he and Mrs. Jay went through her wardrobe and selected it together. Did he claim to have been the one who selected the Walker dress somewhere else?
 
sassie said:
I thought he meant that he selected the dress that Mrs. Jay donated for the Princess to wear temporarily. That is what his book says, or, at least, that he and Mrs. Jay went through her wardrobe and selected it together. Did he claim to have been the one who selected the Walker dress somewhere else?

Actually I don't recall without going to find the book and looking it up. I know he said he'd asked the Ambassador's wife for a dress Diana could wear in the meantime, which struck me as strange that he didn't think to take one out with him from England but felt it was OK for her to wear a borrowed dress - good thing Mrs Jay was approximately the same size as Diana!

But when I read about the Catherine Walker dress she was buried in, I remember thinking that something about it didn't agree with either Paul Burrell's account of things or someone else's.
 
Elspeth said:
Actually I don't recall without going to find the book and looking it up. I know he said he'd asked the Ambassador's wife for a dress Diana could wear in the meantime, which struck me as strange that he didn't think to take one out with him from England but felt it was OK for her to wear a borrowed dress - good thing Mrs Jay was approximately the same size as Diana!

But when I read about the Catherine Walker dress she was buried in, I remember thinking that something about it didn't agree with either Paul Burrell's account of things or someone else's.

I'd take Catherine Walker's account over Paul Burrell's. She, I think, is motivated by truth rather than self-importance. :)
 
when Diana dies and her personal butler bring her favourites clothings from Catherine Walker for burial but i think Paul Burrell wanted bring for her and i dont think Wills and Harry tell him what kind clothes for mother's clothing designer and royals brothers felt betrayal at his own mother's butler.
 
OK this is an old question but one that I have never had an answer to. When the funeral was being broadcast Barbara Walters described the 3 floral arrangements on Diana's casket/coffin as being from her 2 sons and the Spencer family. The "Diana" rose arrangement became famous because of the envelope with the name "Mummy" written on it and it was supposedly form the boys but Barbara said that was from Harry and the tulip arrangement at the top of the casket had a special meaning and was from Will. (The middle arrangement was the Spencer's). Does anyone remember what the special meaning this arrangement had and if it actually was from Will or was the "Mummy" arrangement the only one from the boys? Have never seen any article about the floral arrangements but hope that someone here might have heard who they were from. The flowers from the royals by the way- the Queen and Prince of Wales- were displayed next to the casket inside the cathedral, so not them either.
 
I read somewhere that the Princess of Wales has been buried in a leaden coffin so it will always remain intact.
I've got the feeling this was a well considered choise because in this way there will always be the option to rebury her somewhere else.
One day, when the present Earl Spencer dies, the estate will be taken over by one of his sons. And it has to be seen if they like the idea of having an aunt buried in their backyard.
I also have the feeling that Prince William one day will, apart from restoring Diana's HRH title, also rebury her at Frogmore. In my opinion the proper restingplace for the mother of a future king.
 
Well, if someone wants to preserve a body perfectly then they're interred in a coffin that is lined with lead. It's almost unheard of today except in the Vatican arena where Popes are always buried within a lead coffin so that when they're exhumed in their cause for Sainthood their body can be examined for signs of corruption.
 
So its possible that the Princess of Wales' body is still intact after 10 years.
I wouldn't be surprised if Wills and Harry exhume and bury her elsewhere.
 
Well, if she was interred in a lead-lined coffin and embalmed then yes, she'll be preserved. However, the body's state doesn't really affect re-location. It's just the coffin that needs to be in some decent order and even if that's decayed, the bones etc can be put into a new coffin before reburial.
 
So is every deceased member of the royal family buried in a lead-lined coffin?
 
Not that I know of. It isn't customary but it could be arranged by special request. Every Pope is but I'm not sure about Royals. I'd say no because of the risk of desecration but I've never opened the lid of a Royal coffin!
 
I heard it was a lead coffin too, which accounts for the weight that the Welsh Guards struggled with as they carried her. I also heard that there was a glass window so her face was visible (that sounds a little gross to me so...).
 
I also heard that there was a glass window so her face was visible (that sounds a little gross to me so...).
That was only in the coffin used to bring her through customs in France, many countries insist on opening the lid! :flowers:
 
I must say I was suprised it wasn't a glass coffin entirely.
 
I heard it was a lead coffin too, which accounts for the weight that the Welsh Guards struggled with as they carried her. I also heard that there was a glass window so her face was visible (that sounds a little gross to me so...).

My friends' nephew (as I've said here before) was one of the (Welsh Guards) pall-bearers of Diana's coffin at the Abbey. I can tell you absolutely for certain that it WAS lead-lined and there was no window in the lid.
:flowers:
 
Maybe the lead-lined was chosen with foresight in case of possible exhumation for an inquest/investigation.
 
That was only in the coffin used to bring her through customs in France, many countries insist on opening the lid! :flowers:

Customs do not normally check things on the way OUT of a country.

Remember this was a private flight not a public, scheduled nor even a holiday charter flight, so normal rules simply did not apply. I'm pretty sure that there was film footage at the time of the car arriving at the airport from the Hospital, the coffin being taken out & put on board and the flight leaving almost at once. On arrival in Britain it came to RAF Northolt and the coffin was then transferred to St James's Palace, London.
 
Bodies are a little different. The deceased has to be identified before being allowed out or wanted criminals could easily be smuggled out.
 
Maybe the lead-lined was chosen with foresight in case of possible exhumation for an inquest/investigation.

Lol, you might be right BeatrixFan ! Nowadays, you never know what people are capable to think of. For me, I see the choice of the lead-lined as a symbol of "beauty and youth" preservation. Diana died at 36 when she was almost seen like unreal, perhaps a saint (parallel to the Pope's coffin, maybe ...). Honestly, when I hear about her, I can't imagine her aging. Sounds weird but she died when I was only 6 and I'm really not able to imagine how would she look like today.
 
Well the Pope's coffin isn't intended to be a sainthood thing - quite the opposite actually. It's considered a common burial and the lead is to ensure that his body doesn't decompose in the normal way. For example, when Pope John Paul II moves to the next stage of canonisation, they'll exhume his coffin, open the lid and if he's decomposed then his remains will be considered corrupt. If they arent then it'll be taken as a sign of sanctity ensuring his almost automatic sainthood. As I understand it. In a similar way, were Diana to be exhumed today then her body probably would be in the same state it was when it was embalmed in 1997.
 
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