Diana, 10th Anniversary: Death of princess led to mass outpouring of grief

THE death of Diana, Princess of Wales, 10 years ago stunned the world.

Untimely, tragic and sudden, the loss of the “Queen of Hearts” led to a mass outpouring of public grief the scale of which had never been seen before.

It was in marked contrast to the so-called traditional British reserve and many were left overwhelmed by the emotions they felt.

Distraught mourners wept openly in the streets and people flocked to Kensington Palace, leaving behind a carpet of flowers in honour of the dead Princess.

Diana and Dodi Fayed, son of Harrods owner Mohamed al Fayed, had been in the French capital together on the night of Saturday, August 30.

Shortly after midnight, the couple left the Ritz Hotel in Paris by the rear entrance in a bid to avoid photographers waiting at the main door.

As their Mercedes sped through the nearby Pont de l’Alma underpass, pursued by paparazzi on motorcycles, their car crashed into a pillar.

Dodi was killed instantly, as was chauffeur Henri Paul, who it was later learned had been drunk and driving at high speed.

Emergency workers battled to save Diana, who had not been wearing her seatbelt, and the badly injured bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones.

The princess was taken to the Pitie-Saltpetriere Hospital in the early hours of Sunday, August 31, but doctors were unable to save her.

Diana was dead. Britain awoke to the shock news unable to fully comprehend the reality of the tragic events.

Kensington Palace soon became the focus for all-night candlelit vigils as thousands headed to London to pay their respects. The main gates of Diana’s former home were overtaken by an ocean of flowers, teddy bears, and message upon message dedicated to her.

“She was the People’s Princess and that is how she will stay, how she will remain in our hearts and minds forever,” the then Prime Minister Tony Blair said in his address to the country.

Amid it all, the Royal Family faced its worst crisis in modern history.

The royals were condemned for being out of touch with the public mood and there were calls for the Queen to be seen to lead the nation’s mourning and for the Palace, contrary to protocol, to fly a flag at half mast.

The monarch had stayed in Scotland with William and Harry to help them through the first difficult days of bereavement.

Finally, five days after the princess’s death, she returned to London and addressed the people.

The Union Jack was finally to fly at half-mast above the Palace, in a sign of respect for the princess.

AN estimated 2.5 billion people around the world watched Diana’s funeral, six days after the crash.

People packed the pavements along the route her coffin would take, weeping and calling out her name.

Her coffin was draped in the Royal Standard and adorned with a white spray of flowers from the two young princes and a card with one handwritten word on the envelope — “Mummy”.

On the Mall, the procession to Westminster Abbey was joined by five men in mourning: the Prince of Wales, the two young Princes William and Harry, Charles Spencer and the Duke of Edinburgh.

During the service, Elton John performed a reworked rendition of Candle in the Wind in her honour.

Charles Spencer’s tribute — which talked of the princess’s blood family — drew loud applause from outside the Abbey that finally spread to the congregation inside.

The princess was interred in newly consecrated ground on an island surrounded by an ornamental lake at the Spencer family home at Althorp in Northamptonshire.