Funeral
The public funeral starts at 9:08 am in London, when the tenor bell sounds to signal the departure of the cortege from Kensington Palace. Diana’s coffin is carried from the palace on a gun carriage, along Hyde Park to St. James’ Palace. The official ceremony is held at Westminster Abbey, with 2000 people attending, and finishes at the resting place in Althorp. A Palace spokeswoman says: Although there is no lying in state, obviously we want to ensure that as many of the public who wish to can share in the grieving.
Two thousand people attend the ceremony in Westminster Abbey. As the hearse drove the 77 miles to Diana’s final resting place, so many people threw flowers onto the car that the driver uses his windscreen wipers to keep a clear view.
Diana’s brother Charles Earl Spencer delivers a eulogy:
I stand before you today the representative of a family in grief, in a country in mourning before a world in shock…We, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative way in which you were steering these two exceptional young men so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition but can sing openly as you planned.
Elton John sings a revamped version of his 1974 hit Candle In the Wind, which was originally written as a tribute to Marilyn Monroe. The song begins with the line “Goodbye, England’s rose, may you ever grow in our hearts.”
