Earl Spencer says he was lied to over princes following coffin
Earl Spencer, the brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, claims he was lied to about the William and Harry wanting to walk behind their mother’s coffin.
Spencer said he raised his objections with royal officials but was told her sons wanted to do it. He later realised this was not the case.
As the 20th anniversary of Diana’s tragic death nears, Spencer told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme it was a “very bizarre and cruel thing” for William and Harry to be asked to walk behind her body.
He said his sister would not have wanted it, but royal officials told him otherwise.
“Eventually I was lied to and told they wanted to do it, which of course they didn’t but I didn’t realise that.”
He also described walking behind Diana’s coffin as the “most horrifying half hour of my life”, admitting he still has nightmares about the “harrowing” event 20 years on.
But he said the experience must have been a “million times worse” for Diana’s sons.
He said: “The feeling, the sort of absolute crashing tidal wave of grief coming at you as you went down this sort of tunnel of deep emotion, it was really harrowing and I still have nightmares about it now.
“So there was the inner turmoil of thinking, ‘My God this is ghastly’, but then the point of thinking these two boys are doing this and it must be a million times worse for them.
“It was truly horrifying, actually.
“We would walk a hundred yards and hear people sobbing and then walk round a corner and somebody wailing and shouting out messages of love to Diana or William and Harry, and it was a very, very tricky time.”
Prince Harry has recently opened up about the emotional trauma he experienced after the death of his mother, Princess Diana, and the agony of being forced to walk behind her coffin at the funeral.
“My mother had just died, and I had to walk a long way behind her coffin, surrounded by thousands of people watching me while millions more did on television,” he recalled to Newsweek magazine. “I don't think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances. I don't think it would happen today.”