Princess Diana's brother made controversial speech at her funeral that royals did not like
Topics: Royal Family
Lucy Devine
Featured Image Credit: Jonny Sparks/Alamy Stock Photo/PA Images/Alamy Stock Photo
Topics: Royal Family
Today marks 25 years since Princess Diana died (31 August), and it was just six days on when her funeral was held - which saw her brother make a controversial speech that didn't go down well with the royals.
Diana - who was 36 when she passed away - was given a royal ceremonial funeral, with 2,000 people attending the ceremony at Westminster Abbey.
As well as members of the royal family, including sons Prince William and Prince Harry, Diana's brother, Charles Spencer also attended and gave the eulogy during the service.
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During the speech, Charles addressed the media, calling Diana 'the most hunted person of the modern age' and claimed that due to this, she had 'talked endlessly of getting away from England'.
He also promised Harry and William that he would protect them from the same fate, explaining: "She would want us today to pledge ourselves to protecting her beloved boys William and Harry from a similar fate and I do this here Diana on your behalf.
"We will not allow them to suffer the anguish that used regularly to drive you to tearful despair."
But Earl Spencer, Diana's brother, seemed to directly address Diana's experience in the royal family and the loss of her title, adding that she was "someone with a natural nobility who was classless and who proved in the last year that she needed no royal title to continue to generate her particular brand of magic."
He added: "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."
The speech is thought to have not gone down well with members of the royal family watching from the pews, with some attendees discussing eulogy during the ITV doc, Diana: The Day Britain Cried.
At the time, Martin Neary, who was Westminster Abbey's musical director, said: “The princes actually applauded at the end although senior members of the royal family did not.”
Meanwhile. Sir Malcom Ross, said: “It grated to me on the day because I thought he was actually having a little bit of a go at the Royal Family.”
Diana tragically died in a car accident in Paris, in the early hours of the morning on 31 August 1997.
Both Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul were both killed in the crash, which occurred in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris. She was aged just 36.