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| The hearse leaving London |
The Long Goodbye
Huge crowds stood in silent tribute as the hearse bearing Diana, Princess of Wales passed by in sunshine splashed through thickening cloud on its way to her burial in Northamptonshire.The hearse travelled sedately along roads empty of other traffic the 77 miles from Westminster Abbey in London to her ancestral home at Althorp Park.
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| The small cortege joins the M1 motorway |
So many people threw flowers onto the car that the driver had to use his windscreen wipers to keep a clear view.
At one point the cortege had to stop so the bonnet could be cleared. The flowers were placed in a neat pile at the side of the road, where they were picked by police.
It was preceded and flanked by police motorcycle outriders and followed by a single limousine. More police vehicles brought up the rear.
Scotland Yard said that despite the hearse and police escorts having to weave their way through crowded streets there were "no problems and no arrests" as the cortege travelled through north London.
Once it was on the M1, a long clearance was carefully maintained behind and ahead of the nearest other vehicles on the motorway.
More people crowded onto bridges and slip roads to catch sight of the small procession. Motorists had stopped their cars on the opposite carriageway to watch.
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| Still the flowers come |
Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry made the journey in the Royal Train from Euston, arriving ahead of the hearse. With them was the Princess's brother, Charles Spencer, and her sisters, Lady Jane Fellowes and Lady Sarah McCorquodale.
They disembarked at the tiny halt of Long Buckby. The party then climbed into four black Rolls-Royce limousines for the short journey to the family estate, Althorp, a few miles away.
The hearse and its police escort left the motorway and moved onto country lanes.
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| Home at last |
As it passed through village after village along the way, the roadside verges were thick with people who - again - threw flowers onto it.
It swept through the entrance to Althorp Park - lined with hundreds of bouquets - at 3.32pm.
Inside the estate the Princess was buried on an island in a lake where she had played as a child.
Finally, she had found privacy.
