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| Guardsmen bearing Princess Diana's coffin into the Abbey |
A Nation Bids Farewell to a 'Unique Person'
Brother: 'Diana's Blood Family Will Protect Her Sons'
'She Was Hunted by the Media'
The centre of London was brought to a halt in a great upwelling of emotion around the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales.
At the service at Westminster Abbey in London, her brother, Earl Spencer, spoke movingly of "the big sister who mothered me as a baby", calling her "the very essence of compassion, of duty, of style, of beauty".
But he also had hard words for the Royal Family, and for the media.
"I stand before you today, a representative of a family in grief before a nation in mourning and a world in shock," he said.
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| Earl Spencer: "Genuine goodness is threatening to those at the opposite end of the moral spectrum" |
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Dur: 7'57" |
Addressing Diana's coffin, he said: "We want you to know that life without you is very very difficult."
In a reference to the withdrawal of the title "Her Royal Highness" after her divorce from Prince Charles, her brother said: "She needed no Royal title to generate her particular brand of magic."
And he promised that "her blood family" would see that her sons were "not simply immersed by duty and tradition but can sing openly as you planned."
He also attacked the media for its treatment of her.
His voice breaking at the end, he said goodbye to "a unique, complex, extraordinary and beautiful" woman.
As he sat down, his head bowed, his words were followed by applause among the 2,000 guests and among the crowd outside the Abbey, where the proceedings were being relayed.
Some of those wwho were in the Abbey said later that the applause began outside - an indication of public support for his words - and was taken up inside until everyone joined in.
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| The nave, from above: four candles surround the coffin |
It was the most moving moment in a ceremony which was neither royal funeral nor state funeral, but what a royal spokeswoman had called "a unique funeral for a unique person".
Among the hymns and classical music, Elton John sang a version of his song 'Candle in the Wind' which had been rewritten for the occasion by Bernie Taupin.
Among the dignitaries, the former prime ministers and film stars, were 500 members of the Princess's favourite charities.
Also there was Mohamed Al Fayed, father of Dodi Fayed, the Princess's companion in her final days who was killed in the car crash in Paris last Sunday in which she was fatally injured.
Pink carnations thrown by the public could be seen lodged among the lilies on the coffin as it had passed down the aisle between the congregation before the service.
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| Elton John: "Goodbye England's Rose" |
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Dur: 3'55"" |
The coffin swayed slightly from side to side as the Welsh Guardsmen carried it across the black and white chequered floor of the nave.
The Princess's sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, walked behind as they had done during the procession to the Abbey, accompanied by Prince Charles and Earl Spencer.
In calling on the congregation to pray for the Princess, the Dean of Westminster, Dr Wesley Carr, said she had profoundly influenced the nation and the world.
"Although a Princess, she was someone for whom, from afar, we dared to feel affection, and by whom we were all intrigued," he said.
"She kept company with kings and queens, with princes and presidents, but we especially remember her humane concerns and how she met individuals and made them feel significant."
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| The choir: "I would be true, for there are those that trust me" |
The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, who had paid a moving personal tribute to the Princess on the morning of her death, read from The Bible, 1 Corinthians 13:
Tony Blair's reading in RealVideo and RealAudio Dur: 3'11"
"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
At 12.05pm, as the coffin was carried to the door of the great church, the bearers paused on the threshold and for a minute there was total silence.
It was then taken outside and put into a hearse for the journey north to her final resting place in Northamptonshire.
