Princess Diana's funeral brought the world together as we collectively mourned the tragic loss of the People's Princess
Princess Diana’s Funeral: 26 Photos from the Heartbreaking Day
Updated on Apr. 18, 2025
The queen and Prince Philip
Following the death of Princess Diana, many people were angry with Queen Elizabeth for not issuing a public statement about her former daughter-in-law. The queen also stayed at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, where she and Prince Philip were on their annual holiday along with Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry, and her emotional reserve appeared uncaring and callous, with one newspaper headline blaring “SHOW US YOU CARE.”
The day before Diana’s funeral, the queen returned to London early and gave a rare live broadcast, paying tribute to Diana and saying the now-famous line: “What I say to you now, as your queen and as a grandmother, I say from my heart.” On the day of Diana’s funeral, the queen flew the Union Jack at half-mast at Buckingham Palace, an unprecedented honor, as the Union Jack had never before been flown at half mast. The queen also did a walkabout of the palace grounds, to see the flowers and messages of grief.
Diana’s coffin leaving Buckingham Palace
Mourners outside Buckingham Palace grieve as Princess Diana’s casket is escorted by the Welsh Guards, soldiers charged with guarding the official royal residences in the United Kingdom.
Young William and Harry
The image of young Prince William, 15, and Prince Harry, 12, walking behind their mother’s coffin is indelibly etched into the public consciousness. The two walked alongside their uncle Charles Spencer, with Prince Charles and Prince Philip flanking them for support. When Prince Philip died in 2021, his daughter Princess Anne told reporters that Prince Philip helped support his grandsons, giving them the courage to walk together.
However, during an interview with Newsweek, Prince Harry confessed that even with his family by his side, it was a traumatic experience.
“My mother had just died, and I had to walk a long way behind her coffin, surrounded by thousands of people watching me while millions more did on television,” Harry said. “I don’t think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances. I don’t think it would happen today.”
Princess Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer
One of the most memorable events of Princess Diana’s funeral was the thundering eulogy delivered by Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer. Younger by almost three years, Charles Spencer dubbed himself the “representative of a family in grief” and spoke directly to Diana, saying, “on behalf of your mother and sisters, I pledge that 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.”
Many considered this a dig at the royal family, although Spencer saved choice words for the media, too, describing his sister as “the most hunted person of the modern age” and saying of Diana: “She would want us today to pledge ourselves to protecting her beloved boys William and Harry from a similar fate … we will not allow them to suffer the anguish that used regularly to drive you [Diana] to tearful despair.”
Prince Charles
Although Prince Charles and Princess Diana had been formally divorced for a little over a year after a four-year separation, Charles was devastated by Diana’s death. “He was absolutely distraught. He fell apart,” Tina Brown, author of The Diana Chronicles, said in the 2017 TV documentary “Diana: 7 Days That Shook the Windsors.”
He wore a blue suit to Diana’s funeral, in contrast with the black suits William, Harry, Prince Philip and Charles Spencer wore. However, it wasn’t just a casual sartorial decision but something more meaningful. According to royal author Brian Hoey, Charles chose the Savile Row suit because it was Diana’s favorite, and one that she selected for him.
Princess Diana’s sisters and mother
Diana’s brother Charles wasn’t the only family member who survived her. Her mother, Frances Shand Kydd, as well as her two sisters, Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes, attended her funeral as well. Here, Frances, Lady Sarah and Diana’s nieces Eleanor and Laura Fellowes attend Diana’s funeral at Westminster Abbey.
Princess Diana’s stepmother Raine
Princess Diana had multiple maternal figures at her funeral, as her stepmother Countess Raine Spencer also attended. Diana and Raine had a tumultuous relationship when Diana was younger, with the young Lady Diana nicknaming her Acid Raine, vilifying her and playing pranks on her. At the height of Diana’s animosity toward her stepmother, she reportedly pushed her down the stairs. However, as Diana matured, so did their relationship. The two reconciled and formed a friendship before her death.
The Queen Mother
Despite being in her mid-90s, Queen Elizabeth’s mom, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, attended Princess Diana’s funeral—especially incredible considering Diana passed away at only 36 years of age.
Reportedly, the Queen Mother and Diana were not on the best of terms, with the Queen Mother resolutely supportive of her grandson Charles and fearful that Diana was another Wallis Simpson, with the power to tear down the monarchy.
Princess Margaret
Queen Elizabeth’s colorful younger sister, Princess Margaret, was known for being a royal troublemaker, and like Diana, she was divorced from an ex-husband with whom she’d had a tumultuous relationship. Princess Margaret attended Princess Diana’s funeral with her son Lord Linley and his wife Lady Serena Linley. Margaret later passed away from a stroke in 2002, less than five years later.
The Yorks
Diana’s sister-in-law Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, had a turbulent relationship with Diana in the years before her death. While they were close earlier in their marriages to Prince Charles and Prince Andrew, their friendship was complicated, and Diana was not speaking to Sarah when she died. Here, Sarah attends the funeral with her two young daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, William and Harry’s first cousins.
Tony Blair
Then-Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife, Cherie Blair, were among the mourners at Princess Diana’s funeral. Blair coined the famous phrase indelibly linked with Diana, first calling her the “People’s Princess” while speaking to reporters outside a church in his Sedgefield constituency.
“The people everywhere—not just here in Britain, everywhere—they kept faith with Princess Diana. They liked her, they loved her, they regarded her as one of the people. She was the ‘People’s Princess.’ And that’s how she will stay, how she will remain, in our hearts and in our memories, forever.”
Thousands of attendees
Among the 2,000 attendees at Princess Diana’s funeral were boldfaced names from the worlds of fashion, Hollywood and politics. Here, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Steven Spielberg, Sting and Trudie Styler are seen among the mourners, which also included Tom Hanks, Mariah Carey, Richard Branson and Luciano Pavarotti.
Elton John
Diana’s good friend Elton John performed his hit song “Candle in the Wind” at Diana’s funeral, and the significance of Elton John’s tribute can be felt decades later. John’s writing partner, Bernie Taupin, rewrote the lyrics—originally about Marilyn Monroe—specifically for Princess Diana. The new lyrics repeated the phrase “Goodbye England’s rose” and referenced “England’s greenest hills” and “the wings of your compassion” in Diana’s honor.
Hillary Clinton
Among the 2,000 mourners at Princess Diana’s funeral were several political figures, including then-First Lady Hillary Clinton. Because it was not an official state funeral, her husband, President Bill Clinton, did not attend. However, Hillary was personally invited by both the royal family and the Spencer family due to her “close personal association with Diana, Princess of Wales,” according to then-White House Deputy Press Secretary Joe Lockhart.
Mohamed al-Fayed
With so much attention focused on Princess Diana, it sometimes flies under the radar that three people died that night in Paris, including Diana’s boyfriend Dodi Fayed. His father, billionaire Mohamed al-Fayed, then the owner of Harrods, Fulham Football Club and the Ritz Paris, was among the mourners at the funeral. However, it was one of the last times al-Fayed was comfortably in the royal family’s presence, as he later accused several members of the family of plotting to kill Diana and Dodi.
George Michael
One of Princess Diana’s favorite singers, George Michael, attended her funeral, alongside her friend Elton John and his husband David Furnish. Michael and Diana had formed a tight bond, and he once said she was one of the only people who made him feel like an ordinary person.
Members of the fashion industry
Diana was arguably one of the most fashionable woman on the planet, so it’s not surprising that her funeral attracted several high-profile members of the fashion elite. Mourners included Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and several of Diana’s favorite designers, including Catherine Walker, Karl Lagerfeld and Donatella Versace, who was still mourning the death of her brother Gianni, whose funeral Diana had attended mere weeks earlier.
Mourners lining the streets
Most of the billions of people who watched Diana’s funeral never met her, but she had a unique charisma that made people feel as if they knew her. More than a million people lined the funeral route from Kensington Palace to Westminster Abbey, and at its height, the queue to reach St. James’s Palace and sign the condolence book took up to 12 hours.
Flowers outside Kensington Palace
People flocked to Kensington Palace following the death of Princess Diana, naturally migrating to her London home in grief and to pay their respects in person. An estimated 60 million flowers were left at Kensington Palace, with the mass of bouquets extending 30 feet from the gates.
Small shrines to Princess Diana
Public response to Diana’s death was immense. The once-in-a-lifetime impact felt by Diana’s death could be seen all over England, in impromptu shines created by the public to mourn her loss. Here, one such shrine in London. Elsewhere, mourners left heartfelt notes, hand-drawn cards, funeral poems and stuffed animals.
Flowers as far as the eye can see
Mourners left millions of flowers on the grounds of Kensington Palace, bidding farewell to Princess Diana. Wondering why so many people felt compelled to leave notes and tributes in person? Back in 1997, only 7% of British people had home internet; a heartfelt tribute on Instagram or Facebook wasn’t an option, so expressing grief in person was their only option.
An outpouring of grief
The emotional reaction following Princess Diana’s death was unlike anything the world had ever seen, and it was certainly novel and unexpected in England, a country known for its reserve.
“You saw people weeping openly in the streets in a way I had never seen before, and that was a real change,” James Rodgers, reader in international journalism and assistant vice president of global engagement at City St. George’s, University of London, told TIME magazine. “If anyone asked me when Britain’s stiff upper lip ended, I would have said then.”
Here, mourners are seen weeping in the crowd as Princess Diana’s funeral procession goes along Whitehall.
“One in a million”
Diana was beloved for having a common touch and genuinely relating to and connecting with everybody, regardless of their station in life. Here, a sign from prisoners in the H.M. Prison Dartmoor thanks her for “treating us like human beings, not criminals.”
Billions of viewers
According to estimates, roughly 2.5 billion people watched Princess Diana’s funeral worldwide on TV. Because the procession began just after 9 a.m. in London, many Americans woke up in the middle of the night or wee hours of the morning to view it. Here, an American woman named Christine Couture watches Diana’s funeral in her living room in Arlington, Massachusetts.
A farewell to “Mummy”
She was one of the most famous women in the world, but to William and Harry, Princess Diana was just mummy. Here, a poignant card addressed to “Mummy” on her coffin, carried by a gun carriage.
Diana’s final resting spot
While Diana’s funeral was decidedly public, her burial was a quiet, private affair, taking place on the same day. Diana was laid to rest at her childhood home, Althorp in Northamptonshire. The grave remains there to this day, on an island in the middle of a lake on the estate, but is not open to the public, although guests can visit the estate.
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Reader’s Digest has published hundreds of stories on the British royal family, providing a behind-the-scenes look at the fascinating facets of the monarchy. We regularly cover topics including the latest royal news, the history and meaning behind time-honored traditions, and the everyday quirks of everyone’s favorite family members, from Queen Elizabeth’s daily snack to Prince William’s confessions about his home life. We’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers’ personal experiences where appropriate. Then, we went the extra step and had Robin Honig Willens, a longtime fact-checker and research chief for TV Guide, Cosmopolitan and other outlets, make sure the information about Princess Diana’s funeral is factually accurate. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
Sources:
- BBC: “Crowds Say Final Farewell to Diana”
- BBC: “Full Text of Earl Spencer’s Funeral Oration”
- British Army: “The Welsh Guards”
- CBS News: “Princess Anne Walks Behind Casket as the Only Woman in Philip’s Funeral Procession”
- The Guardian: “Mohamed Al Fayed, former Harrods and Fulham FC owner, dies aged 94”
- History.com: “Charles and Diana Divorce”
- History.com: “Some 2.5 Billion TV Viewers Watch Princess Diana’s Funeral”
- Newsweek: “What Prince Harry Said About Historic Princess Diana Funeral Walk”
- Royal.uk: “Diana, Princess of Wales”
- Royal.uk: “The Queen’s Message Following the Death of Diana, Princess of Wales”
- Town and Country: “Remembering the Floral Tribute to Princess Diana, 20 Years Later”
- Yahoo! News: “Diana, Princess of Wales Told George Michael His Song Was One of Her Favourites”
