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couple of hours to talk things over with the Queen and after he had come to terms with it himself,
Prince Charles went to tell the news to his sons. First, he woke Prince William and told him the news
after which they together woke Prince Harry and told him that Diana was dead. It was then that
Prince Charles also told them that he would go to Paris to escort Diana’s body home (p. 463).
Paterson (2011) states that the Queen saw the death of Diana first and foremost as a family tragedy
and because of that she thought that it should be dealt with in private. Her main concern were her
grandsons, Princes William and Harry, whom she wanted to protect. In her opinion, it was of the
utmost importance that life should continue on as normal as much as possible, taking into
consideration the difficult situation at hand (p. 181). In light of this it is no wonder that after the
boys had been told the news the morning went on in as normal a way as possible, and the Royal
Family, the boys included, attended the customary Sunday service in Crathie Church, where there
was no mention of Diana during the whole service (Bradford, 2007, p. 377). Both the fact that the
whole Royal Family had attended the service and that Diana had not been referred to during the
service were soon reported by the press, which criticized the Royal Family for not caring about
Diana’s death, even though the boys themselves had wanted to attend church and the choice to
leave any mention of Diana out of the service was made by the reverend in charge of the service
and had nothing to do with the Royal Family (Junor, 2014, pp. 90-91).
There is no certain way for anyone outside the Royal Family and their employees to really know
what the reaction to the news of Diana’s death was among the Royal Family, but according to
Seward (2000), the first reaction of the Royal Family to the news of Diana’s death was one of dazed
bewilderment. Prince Charles was overcome with grief despite the fact that Diana’s actions had
caused him distress. The Queen was stunned because even though she had grown increasingly
exasperated by Diana’s behaviour she had recognized the potential in her and saw her death as a
terrible waste. The boys, Princes William and Harry, were deeply affected by their mother’s death,
but showed remarkable resilience nonetheless. Harry appeared to easily cope with the loss of his
mother while William made every effort to keep his emotions to himself (pp. 11-14, 17-18).
On Sunday afternoon Prince Charles and Diana’s two sisters, Sarah and Jane, flew from Aberdeen
to Paris in a Bae 146 of the Queen’s Flight (Bradford, 2007, p. 377). Prince Charles had decided that
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it would be better if the boys did not accompany them on this journey and because of this they
remained at Balmoral with the rest of the Royal Family (Seward, 2000, p. 18). According to Bradford
(2007), upon arrival in Paris, Prince Charles and Diana’s sisters were taken to see Diana’s body that
had been cleaned up and dressed in a black cocktail dress. After Prince Charles and Diana’s sisters
had spent some time alone with Diana, she was placed in a coffin for the home journey. Prince
Charles and Diana’s sisters accompanied the hearse on its journey through Paris, where people had
gathered on the side of the street and applauded as the hearse went by on its way to the airport.
From there a plane took them to Northolt, from which Prince Charles continued by plane back to
Balmoral while the rest of the group stayed behind and accompanied the coffin to Fulham mortuary.
Once again, as in Paris, the road was lined with people. From Fulham Diana’s body was taken to the
Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace, where her body stayed until the night before her funeral when
her body was taken home to Kensington Palace (pp. 377-379).
Bradford (2007) states that people were trying to find someone to blame for what had happened.
The first ones to blame were the paparazzi who had been relentless in trying to snap new photos to
sell to the press, and because of this the press were the next to be blamed. Even Diana’s brother
Charles in his statement about his sister’s death blamed the press for her death, saying that he
always believed that in the end the press would kill Diana. He went as far as to declare that any
media outlet that had ever paid for intrusive or exploitative photographs of Diana had blood on
their hands. These accusations were the ones that set the scene for the mood of public anger not
just against the paparazzi, but against the press as well. The third one to receive the blame for the
death was the driver of the car, Henri Paul (pp. 378, 380-381). Henri Paul was an easy target for
blame, because it had been revealed that at the time of the accident his blood alcohol level had
been three times the French legal limit and that he had also been taking pharmaceuticals that
combined with alcohol could affect one’s driving (Brown, 2008, pp. 454-455). The last ones to be
blamed were the Royal Family, because the people saw them as the ones who had cast Diana out
and left her alone, a fact that, according to them, had been the reason why she had been in Paris
with Dodi Fayed that night, a notion that was further supported by the Royal Family’s actions after
the accident (Bradford, 2007, pp. 378, 380-381).
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Brown (2008) writes that after Prince Charles’s return from Paris the Royal Family continued to
spend their time in seclusion at Balmoral, trying to help the boys come to terms with the loss of
their mother. The Queen went as far as to order the removal of all the TV sets and radios, so that
the boys would not be able to see or hear any broadcasts that had to do with the death of their
mother. The Queen, Prince Philip and Prince Charles followed the developments themselves
through a TV set that had been left in the private sitting room of the Queen for just that reason.
Their staff also followed the news from hidden TVs and radios (pp. 470-471). The Royal Family
decided to stay at Balmoral, because they needed to grieve the loss of a family member in peace as,
opposed to the public at large, they were dealing with the loss of a real person, not just an icon
(Seward, 2000, pp. 20-21).
However, according to Bradford (2007), the Royal Family stayed mostly unaware of the public
hysteria that was growing in London. There were people queueing for hours to sign one of the books
of condolences at St James’s Palace and massive amounts of flowers and notes were placed outside
the Palaces. These were all from ordinary people that were mourning the passing of Diana. The
press began to question the Queen’s decision not to come to London and to stay silent during this
time of national mourning, which mirrored the mood of the people who thought that the Royal
Family did not care about the passing of Diana (pp. 379-381). This was further highlighted by the
fact that the Prime Minister of the time, Tony Blair, had spoken of the tragedy the morning after it
had happened and tapped into the nation’s emotions by calling Diana “the People’s Princess”
(Brown, 2008, pp. 468-469). In addition, Bradford (2007) states that the other issue besides the
Royal Family remaining at Balmoral and staying silent, leading people to think that the Royal Family
and the Queen herself did not care about their grief and the passing of Diana, was that the flagpole
over Buckingham Palace was empty instead of a flag at half-mast in a traditional expression of
mourning. This, however, was not because the Royal Family did not care about Diana’s death, but
because the tradition with the flagpole at the palace is that there is no flag if the Queen is not
present. Nevertheless, the Queen had to yield to the pressure of the people and order the Union
Jack to be flown at half-mast until she was in residence. When she came to London the Union Jack
was replaced with her standard, as per tradition, and then again put at half-mast on Saturday, the
day of the funeral, where it stayed until midnight on Sunday (pp. 379-381). Even so, what the people
did not realize was that it was the tradition of the Royal Family to grieve in private: a tradition that
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