The world is never the same when a cultural icon dies, but few could have expected the effect that the death of Princess Diana, 25 years ago today, could have had on British society, writes Anthony Topley.
Certainly, in our line of work her death – in particular, her funeral seven days later – has changed everything, thanks to the incredible scenes we saw as the country faced up to losing the People’s Princess.
While hindsight can be misleading, I am certain that my memories of the vast majority of funerals before that time were that they all followed the same pattern, largely based on the Christian church’s idea of how a funeral should proceed.
They had hymns instead of songs, psalms instead of poems and prayers which, looking back, seem impersonal and, to those without a strong faith, lacking meaning.
But what we remember from Diana’s funeral was how it was full of meaning. There were still readings and psalms and hymns, but we tend to recall Elton John’s tearful performance of Candle in the Wind and her brother Lord Spencer’s eulogy, where he alluded to her life of being hunted by the paparazzi whose actions, ultimately, led to her death.
We had never seen these things at a royal funeral before and I remember thinking how new and unusual they were at the time. Now, looking back 25 years on, I realise that they were revolutionary.
Although change didn’t come overnight, it wasn’t long before we had people asking for their loved one’s favourite pop song and relatives wanting to give their own eulogies and talk about the person that they had lost.
Then came the personal touches, the guests wearing bright colours instead of black and the switch from a funeral marking someone’s sad passing to a celebration of their life.
These things are so commonplace now that it’s incredible to think that we never had them before and, although these things would probably have come along eventually, Diana’s funeral sped that process up.
And so the question we ask is why. Many millions of words have been written about the kind of woman that Diana was and how, thanks to her vulnerability, beauty and flaws, she reached out through the curtain that separates us from the British monarchy.
This connected with the public, who turned out in their thousands to weep openly and lay flowers outside Kensington Palace, throw more flowers onto her hearse as she passed by and watched the funeral on TV in their billions.
This had never been done before but it taught the country a lesson – that when we lose someone we love there is nothing wrong with showing how we feel and making their send-off personal and full of meaning.
- Photo by Maxwell Hamilton