September 6: On This Day in World History … briefly
The funeral plan for the Queen Mother, code-named Operation Tay Bridge, had been rehearsed for 22 years and was used as the basis for Diana's funeral.
1997: The entire world mourns as Diana, the people’s princess, is laid to rest
The public funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales started on September 6, 1997 at 9.08am in London, when the tenor bell of Westminster Abbey started tolling to signal the departure of the cortège from Kensington Palace. The coffin was carried from the palace on a gun carriage, along Hyde Park to St James’s Palace, where Diana’s body had remained for five days before being taken to Kensington Palace.
The Union Flag on top of the palace was lowered to half mast. The official ceremony was held at Westminster Abbey in London and finished at the resting place in Althorp.
Two thousand people attended the ceremony in Westminster Abbey while the British television audience peaked at 32.10 million, one of the United Kingdom’s highest viewing figures ever. An estimated 2.5 billion people watched the event worldwide, making it one of the biggest televised events in history.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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