The royals - Kitty Kelley [264]
But outside the abbey, the hundreds of thousands of commoners who lined the streets seemed to represent a greater tribute to the young woman who gave more to the idea of royalty than she ever received in return. The BBC estimated the crowds to be the largest assembled in London since World War II.
Around the world, an estimated 2.5 billion people in 187 countries gathered in front of their televisions to watch Diana’s funeral. In the U.S., people arose at 4 A.M. to watch the service.
“We were there at the beginning of the fairy tale,” said a woman in New York City who had watched the royal wedding in 1981. “The least we can do is be there for her at the end.”
Shortly after the Welsh Guards carried Diana’s coffin to the front altar of the abbey, Elton John sang his farewell to England’s rose. His lyricist had rewritten “Candle in the Wind,” originally an elegy for Marilyn Monroe, to pay homage to the Princess of Wales. That song, which the singer re-recorded and released a few days later, became the largest-selling single in history. He donated the proceeds ($65 million by 1998) to the memorial fund established in Diana’s name to benefit her favorite charities. He was later knighted by the Queen, who is said to have been moved by his haunting song. Although she had prohibited television coverage of the royal family inside the abbey, some funeral guests said they had seen tears* in the Queen’s eyes when Elton John sang about Diana as “our nation’s golden child.”
Moments after his song, Her Majesty was publicly chastened by the Earl Spencer, Diana’s brother. His eloquent eulogy did not cloak his fury as he drew a hard line between Diana’s real family and the royal family. Addressing his dead sister, he said, “… on behalf of your mother and sisters, I pledge that we, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative way in which you were steering these two exceptional young men so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition but can sing openly as you planned.” It was a none too subtle slap at the royal family.
The Earl drew resounding applause from inside and outside the abbey when he inveighed against the media. He said his sister had talked endlessly of getting away from England, because of the treatment she received at the hands of newspapers and television.
“I don’t think she ever understood why her genuinely good intentions were sneered at by the media, why there appeared to be a permanent quest on their behalf to bring her down,” he said. “It is baffling. My own, and only, explanation is that genuine goodness is threatening to those at the opposite end of the moral spectrum. It is a point to remember that, of all the ironies about Diana, perhaps the greatest was this: a girl given the name of the ancient goddess of hunting was, in the end, the most hunted person of the modern age.”
The eulogy was praised as courageous and hailed as an example of Britain’s finest oratory. In the fevered atmosphere of Diana’s funeral, her brother’s eloquence was compared to Winston Churchill’s. But within days, the Earl Spencer was denounced as a cur and a bounder.
The British press retaliated against him by reporting the lurid details of his impending divorce in South Africa. They published pictures of his various mistresses, plus extracts from letters he had sent to lovers during his marriage. He was portrayed as a “serial adulterer,” who had brutally tormented his emotionally fragile wife with his philanderings, driving her to a nervous breakdown. He reportedly had barred her from attending his sister’s funeral. The newspapers called him “a liar” and “a cheat,” and his wife depicted him as an intolerant, terrifying bully who never allowed her “an opinion or a voice.” She was quoted as saying that he “increasingly criticised, undermined, bullied and belittled me until eventually I lost all confidence and became very scared of him.” The Daily Mail