Chapter 40 Fourth, the funeral is as grand as the wedding

From August 31st to September 5th, 1997, the world was immersed in grief. People expressed their grief in various ways and waited for the funeral. September 6th, the day of the funeral, must have been the saddest day. Just after dawn, in the cold and dry London, mourning people lined up for three or five miles to see their princess off.Some people have been waiting in front of the palace or church all night, waiting for the last journey to send the princess with tears in their eyes.Police estimated five million people attended the funeral, far more than Diana married Prince Charles in 1981.

Charles, Prince William and Prince Henry, Princes of Wales, were in tears as they returned to Kensington Palace, a symbol of their respective sorrows, in the early morning.Because the palace has been surrounded by a sea of ​​flowers and thousands of mourners. The princes walked slowly, shaking people's hands and showing their gratitude.Many people held the hands of the two little princes and patted their shoulders to comfort them, but their own tears had already rolled down unconsciously. At this time, 2.75 billion people in the world, accounting for half of the world's population, sat quietly in front of the TV and said goodbye to Diana thousands of miles away. The BBC will broadcast the funeral live on an unprecedented scale, and has sold broadcast rights to 178 television stations, which will donate the proceeds to the Diana Charitable Fund.

At 9.08am, Princess Diana's coffin was laid on a gun carriage, covered with maroon and gold royal banners and adorned with white flowers including a card written by the two young princes , there is only one word "Mom" on it.The 6 black horses of the Royal Guard slowly pulled the coffin and drove on the gloomy London street.Prince William and Prince Henry followed closely behind their mother's coffin, as did Prince Charles, Prince Philip and Diana's brother, Earl Spencer, with their heads bowed. In front of Buckingham Palace, more than 500 people from different charities walked out from behind the royal family members to pay their last respects to Diana who had contributed to charity.Many of them deliberately wore clothing with charity slogans printed on them.

The neighborhood around the church is home to 6 million people.Most of them had been waiting since the night before, sleeping in sleeping bags and tents on a scale reminiscent of 1981, when Diana married Prince Charles and became the brightest star in the British royal family. It's just that things are different, and great joy has turned into great sorrow. When the hearse passed the gate of Buckingham Palace, the British royal palace, Queen Elizabeth II, dressed in black, led three generations of royal family members and bowed deeply to Diana's coffin.Behind her, the Union Jack flag flying over Buckingham Palace was lowered in half early in honor of Diana.

The hearse walked slowly under the watchful eyes of thousands of people.Diana was bidding farewell to the British people, and the people shed tears to bid farewell to their ardently beloved princess. Diana's two dear children, William and Henry, were the ones who received the most attention and sympathy from the public. William, 15, wore a black double-breasted gown with a stern look on his face.His mother was devastated, and he seemed to grow up overnight.Prince Henry, who is only 12 years old, is a bit shorter than his elder brother. Against the backdrop of his father, uncle and elder brother, he looks very immature.

From time to time, bursts of weeping came from the crowd, calling out the name of "Diana".Someone even put up signs, one of which read: "Love if you want, no one will hurt you now." From Kensington Palace to Westminster Abbey, the funeral procession walked for 2 hours. In Westminster Abbey, there are 2,000 big and famous figures from all over the world, including the first ladies of France and the United States, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, former US Secretary of State Kissinger, and the famous tenor Singer Pavarotti, Dudi's father and the owner of the famous Harrods department store Mohammad Al Fayed, famous Hollywood movie stars Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise, and the current British royal family With dignitaries from the government, celebrities from all walks of life, etc., this is the most solemn funeral of Westminster Abbey since its establishment 1,000 years ago.In the choir's hymn, British Prime Minister Tony Blair read "The Corinthians' Hymn to Love".

Prime Minister Blair said: "Today we can only see her remains dimly through the glass. In her we see loyalty, hope and love, but the greatest of the three is love." The Archbishop of Canterbury also issued a caring eulogy to the world. Thank you God for giving us Princess Diana and her joyful disposition, allowing her to be an example to others and to do countless good deeds.Thank God for giving us Princess Diana, her life is so touching.Thank her for being so approachable, for being so charming and compassionate.We will miss her silvery laugh and above all her readiness to help the needy in this country and around the world.She ignited the hope of many people with her warmth.Her valuable qualities and compassion make her attractive and give us strength.

We want to thank God for giving us the most precious family life, the most precious relationship between people, and I want to thank you for enabling us to draw strength from each other. We want to thank God for the tremendous strength Diana brought to so many, and we will continue where Diana left off.Just now Prime Minister Blair talked about Diana's hope, love, loyalty and other beautiful qualities, the most important of which is love.I implore God to give everyone a loving, compassionate, life-giving spirit like Diana's.Diana's inner and outer beauty never faded away.Her love for country will never fade away.

The cathedral blared with mournful melodies of Bach, Verdi and Purcell as 2,000 mourners listened to an emotional sung by Princess Diana's friend and pop star Elton John, based on his own "Candle in the Wind" specially adapted a song.In the 1970s, he wrote "Candle in the Wind" to commemorate Marilyn Monroe. Today, lyric poet Bernie Toppan writes lyrics to commemorate the equally beautiful but unfortunate princess. "Farewell, Rose of England... your candles are long extinguished, but your deeds live forever".When the singing sounded, the old man died; the heartbroken people sang an elegy, and the souls of those who traveled far away traveled to heaven.

During the singing, Prince Henry buried his head in his hands.Diana's younger brother, Earl Spencer, came forward to deliver a eulogy.At the end, he choked up.People returned warm applause to end the wonderful speech. The ceremony lasted 50 minutes, and finally the whole of Britain observed a minute's silence for Diana, the people's princess. This is a moment that people will never forget.When 2,000 distinguished guests mourned the princess in Westminster Abbey, people from all over the world were watching the funeral and sending off the "Rose of England" --- Diana in various ways.The live broadcast of the funeral was broadcast to 60 countries, and radio stations used at least 44 languages ​​to tell people of different nationalities and colors about this spectacular and thought-provoking funeral.

The princess is finally leaving.This time, there were no cameras and no crowds. In the afternoon, the convoy then began to escort Diana's coffin to Diana's ancestral cemetery, about 100 kilometers away from London.Twenty generations of Diana's ancestors are buried here in a small church in the village of Great Burlington, 50 miles northwest of London.Here is also the burial of her father, whom she once depended on for life. Only close family members attended the burial.Details of the brief ceremony were not released, nor was the name of the priest, said to be a friend of the family. Only about ten people are estimated to have attended the final rites.These were her brother, Earl Spencer, two sisters and their husbands, Princes William and Henry, Diana's mother and Diana's steward. Just when millions of people on the streets of London were crying farewell to the princess, many people were already waiting at the gate of the manor to welcome her back on her way home.Some of them had been here as early as Friday night, holding candles and banners that read "Princess Diana, Queen of Our Hearts, Go Home and Rest in Peace." The Spencer family said Diana was buried wearing a black long-sleeve she had just bought a few weeks ago but never worn, and was accompanied by a rosary gift from Mother Teresa. In France, people went to Place de la Alma, the site of the crash, to lay flowers with a eulogy.When the funeral takes place in London, they light the candles in the bouquet.A few hundred meters away from the bronze statue symbolizing the Seine, the children came to the British Embassy in France and placed Diana's portrait among chrysanthemums, iris and rose bushes. This place has been called "Princess Diana". square". In San Francisco, more than 14,000 people held candles and marched through the city to honor Diana for her extensive charity work for AIDS victims.The parade was silent until the end of Elton John's sad and moving song "Candle in the Wind"."Those of us living with HIV mourn with her people on this bleakest day, and we miss her courage that gave us the strength to survive," said organizer Jones. The photo of a dying AIDS patient in a hospital hugging a dying AIDS patient with ungloved hands went around the world. This simple yet profound act of compassion illuminated the world and changed its attitude towards us." In Los Angeles, AIDS organizations held a huge candlelight memorial service, and the entire softball field was turned into a sea of ​​tears. Landmine victims in Bosnia have paid tribute to Diana's humanitarian visit last month for bringing widespread attention and help to their country's landmine-stricken people.A 40-year-old victim said: "It always seemed to me that it wasn't Diana who died but someone in my family who died. I miss her so much." It's the same in Angola, where landmine victims want the government to care for them like Diana did.Photos of Diana's recent visit to Angola have brought the world's fight against anti-personnel landmines into high gear. In war-torn Northern Ireland, the death of the princess united Irish Catholics and Pro-Anglophile Puritans, who had been fighting each other, to mourn her. Kind people will always remember this beautiful and kind princess, her impact on the world, and the precious legacy she left us. The memory of Diana's death is still fresh in those who lived through it 5 years later.On the occasion of the 5th anniversary of Diana's death, on August 31, 2002, Shi Zongxing, a reporter from People's Daily Online in the UK, made a series of interviews, and people fondly recalled the situation after the accident that year. Andrew Messer (BBC reporter, editor on duty at night when Diana died): At about 12:30 in the middle of the night, I received a call from a reporter stationed in France, saying that Diana had been seriously injured in a car accident.I was stunned.For such a big event, we had to rush to write a press release and find an announcer.At that time, we had no reaction from Buckingham Palace, nor from the British embassy in France, but I had a hunch that something was wrong.We later learned that Diana had died from Nicholas Whicher, who was traveling abroad with Secretary Robin Cook.It is very special that when we finally confirmed that Diana had passed away, the office was extremely quiet, and the whole night, there was a kind of silence that people will never forget.Everyone is unwilling to accept this fact.In that moment of national grief, I just thought it was cruel that she had just found her happiness and started a new life and all of a sudden it was gone.For me personally, that night was one of the most extraordinary nights I've ever spent in BBC News, surpassing even the day of 9/11. Michelle Waller (single mother): At that time, my daughter Charlene was only 4 years old, and she clamored to go to London to attend Diana's funeral.We went and slept on the streets of Westminster for three nights, and Charlene was the only child who slept outside for more than one night.The amount of affection people felt for Diana was incredible, it was like losing a close family member suddenly.Diana is someone I will never forget.She has faith, and many of the things she does mean a lot to us ordinary people.During those few days, we made many friends on the streets of London, some of whom are still in touch.We now have two little friends with AIDS, and Charlene and I try our best to give them some warmth.Here's what we learned from Diana. Pascal Arritt (General Manager, Central London Street Cleanup): Diana's funeral was a test of everyone's morals.In those days, millions of people flocked to the streets of London, and transportation, food and accommodation became a big problem for a while.We had estimated that there might be a mess, but it didn't.A 78-year-old military officer I know and his wife volunteered to help at the food stand for several days in a row.At that time, it took more than an hour to queue up to buy food and beverages, but the order was orderly.Hundreds of thousands of people slept on the streets for two or three days, leaving a lot of rubbish, and the cleanup after the funeral was very heavy.I directed the cleanup in the city center and didn't go home to sleep for three days and two nights.We didn't call for anyone to help, but suddenly a large number of volunteers emerged.Everyone wanted to do more work, and they all wanted to do something special to commemorate Diana and to calm their hearts.These things seem like yesterday, and I will never forget them.