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"Diana was the very essence of compassion, of duty, of style, of beauty. All over the
world she was a symbol of selfless humanity, a standard bearer for the rights of the truly
downtrodden. A very British girl who transcended nationality, someone with a natural nobility
who was classless and who proved in the last year that she needed no Royal title to continue
to generate her particular brand of magic. It is a point to remember, that of all the
ironies about Diana, perhaps the greatest was this, a girl given the name of the ancient
goddess of hunting was in the end the most hunted person of the modern age." The words
of Earl Spencer at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. Saturday 6th September 1997 was
a day that united hundreds of millions of people, throughout the world, in tribute to
one of the century's most glamorous and tragic figures.
The service in Westminster Abbey was attended by two thousand guests, five hundred of them
representatives of the various charities the Princess had been involved with. It was not
an official state funeral, more a memorial service for a Monarch or Head of State watched
on television by an estimated two billion people
world-wide. After the final hymn, the coffin was carried to the Great West Door of the
Abbey. From here it was taken on a journey through the streets of London, where millions
more turned out to throw flowers onto the hearse or just watch in silent tribute. The
Princess was buried at Althorp, her ancestral home in Northamptonshire. Her final resting
place, after such a turbulent and often tragic life, was on an island in a lake in the grounds.
At last out of reach of the prying eyes and intrusive attention of the world.