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It’s a day in history that will never be forgotten.
At just 15 and 12 years old, Prince William and Prince Harry walked behind their mother Princess Diana’s coffin at her funeral in 1997.
But the young princes didn’t walk alone.
Not only did their father, Prince Charles, and their uncle, Diana’s brother Earl Spencer join them – their grandfather Prince Philip walked too.
For years, many questioned why Prince Philip would choose to walk behind the coffin, as he was said to have had an “intense dislike” for Diana.
But now, in royal author Ingrid Seward’s latest book My Husband and I: The Inside Story Of The Royal Marriage, the reason behind Prince Philip’s baffling decision has finally been explained.
Originally, Diana’s brother Earl Spencer wanted to be the only person to walk behind Diana’s coffin.
"In a mark of respect to an ex-wife and a departed mother, Prince Charles wanted to walk behind the cortege with William and Harry beside him," Seward wrote.
"Another of the by-now interminable rows ensued over the telephone, which Spencer ended by hanging up on the prince," she continued.
"It was made clear to Spencer that, regardless of whatever private feelings he might harbour, the prince and his sons would walk behind the gun carriage bearing the princess's coffin."
But while Earl Spencer and Prince Charles eventually settled their disagreement, Prince William, who was 15 at the time, refused to walk behind his mother's coffin without his grandfather Prince Philip beside him.
"At first William flatly refused. Charles pleaded with him and said that it would be utterly wrong of him not to accompany them," Seward wrote.
Although Prince Philip and Diana's relationship had fallen apart, Prince William and his grandfather were said to be incredibly close.
Top Comments
This is interesting, as I have read that Prince Philip liked and respected Diana, and took her part in the marital difficulties.
I was thinking that too. You wonder if the whole "The Royal Family despised Diana" was a bit of a beat up to make it a little more acceptable that Charles went back to Camilla, making out he was not as bad as we think.
The press will present the perspective that suits them on the day (so long as it doesn't make Saint Diana look bad, of course).
I had heard for years he tried to help Diana, recently published letters between the pair suggest the same (though he had asked if some of the blame belonged to her behaviour in the marriage as well), that there was a mutual respect.