Why 1 Popular Royal Family Member Refused to Attend Princess Diana’s Funeral
Nearly three decades ago, millions of people around the world mourned the death of Princess Diana when she was killed following a car crash in Paris.
The princess’s funeral took place a week later on Sept. 6, 1997. A global audience of over 2 billion people tuned in to watch from home while thousands lined the streets of London for a final goodbye to the People’s Princess. Another 2,000 people from celebrities to politicians, were on hand for Diana’s service inside Westminster Abbey, as were most of the royals.
But one member of the Firm, who is quite popular today, decided against attending for a very specific reason.
Who did not attend Princess Diana’s funeral and why?
Prince Edward’s wife, Sophie (today the Duchess of Edinburgh), did not attend Princess Diana’s funeral. She and Edward were not yet married at that time, but they had been together for years and therefore her absence caused some controversy. However, Sophie’s reason for not attending is because she resembled the late royal.
The Daily Mail noted that biographer Sean Smith wrote about that in his book titled Sophie: Saving the Royal Family.
According to Smith, “[Sophie] had an obvious and reasonable excuse: a friend at the palace explained, ‘Sophie decided it would be too upsetting for the crowd if she went. She was well aware that she looks like Princess Diana from a distance and made her decision in a caring and thoughtful way. The royal family fully supported.”
The royal biographer continued, “In retrospect, Sophie having her hair clipped short in a Diana-style blonde bob was probably a mistake.”
The author also claimed that Diana and Sophie were never friends, writing, “The polite description of their relationship, as preferred by the more diplomatic of Sophie’s friends, was to say that there was ‘no love lost’ between them.”
The ice-cold comments another popular royal made about Princess Diana after her death
One royal who was actually friends with Princess Diana for years was Queen Elizabeth II’s sister, Princess Margaret. However, Margaret cut Diana out of her life following that infamous Panorama interview, and she showed little sympathy after Diana died.
Royal author Craig Brown wrote the book Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret, which the Countess of Snowdon called the public’s grief over the late princess “hysteria.”
“She said the hysteria was rather like Diana herself…When she died, she got everyone to be as hysterical as she was,” Brown wrote.
The author also noted that Margaret did not feel that flags in the country should have been flown at half mast following Diana’s death. She was against a statue of the late princess going up outside Kensington Palace as well, reportedly telling people, “‘I’m not having that woman outside my bedroom window.’”
As Brown explained, Princess Margaret “wasn’t keen on others misbehaving. Broadcasting your feelings to the world without a warning was considered an amazing kind of betrayal even if what Diana was alleging was true. Margaret was very unforgiving.”
