A new docuseries about the royal family has claimed that after Princess Diana’s death, Queen Elizabeth II did not want to be “pushed” by the British public and “behaved as any grandmother would have”.
ITVX’s The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor, released today, devoted its fourth episode to exploring the late Her Majesty’s decisions following the death of the then Princess of Wales in 1997.
After the devastating news spread around the world, the Queen remained at her Scottish home in Balmoral, where she and several members of her family had enjoyed their summer holidays. She was joined by Diana’s sons Prince William and Harry, then 15 and 12 years old respectively.
But the decision to stay away from Buckingham Palace and the mourning crowds that lined its gates, as well as her silence in the days following the princess’s death, was deeply criticized by some of the grieving nation.
“The British public wanted the Queen to dance to their tune, didn’t they?” Lady Anne Glenconner, the late Princess Margaret’s lady-in-waiting, narrated the documentary. Former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, added: “Your Majesty, your country needs you to come and comfort us,” well, the Queen was not in the mood for that.’
A new docuseries about the royal family has claimed that Queen Elizabeth II (pictured giving a speech on Diana’s death in 1997) did not want to be ‘pushed’ by the British public after Princess Diana’s death – and acted ‘like every grandmother’. would have’
In the program, members of the public interviewed at the time shared their criticism of the monarch shortly after Diana’s death. The princess died on August 31, 1997 in a car accident in Paris.
“Our Queen should be with our people in London and they should know how all her people feel about Diana,” said a tearful woman. “I’m disgusted, they haven’t appeared or said a word,” added another.
Another woman insisted she found the royal family’s behavior in the days following Diana’s death “very, very disgraceful.”
However, Lady Anne Glenconner said that Queen Elizabeth “behaved as any grandmother would.”
“She stayed in Scotland, because William and Harry were there, and she took care of them, which is what you do,” the 90-year-old socialite added.
She continued: ‘Princess Margaret, of course, lived in Kensington Palace, and from her windows you could see a sea of flowers, which was extraordinary.
“But of course a lot of them were wrapped in cellophane, so the smell of these flowers in Kensington Palace, I mean, she had to keep all the windows closed. It was very unfortunate.
The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince William, Earl Spencer, Prince Harry and the Prince of Wales follow the coffin of Diana, Princess of Wales to Westminster Abbey on September 6, 1997
Released today, ITVX’s The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor devoted its fourth episode to exploring the decisions made by the late Her Majesty (pictured with Diana in 1986) following the death of the then Princess of Wales in 1997
“I don’t know what happened, this extraordinary outburst of grief, people just went crazy, screaming and crying.”
But while the Queen kept her silence, the country’s then Prime Minister Tony Blair, who had only been in office for four months, addressed the audience.
Anji Hunter, Director of Government Relations from 1997 to 2001, who played an intimate role in arranging the funeral, recalled, “I spoke to Tony very early, he called me and said this is huge.
“Tony went out a few times to fill the vacuum, where’s the royal family…they weren’t visible.”
Anji also recalled being “rebuked” by Prince Philip during a speaker at Buckingham Palace, explaining, “Suddenly this voice came through, I’ll never forget it.”
“It was Prince Philip’s voice, and he was quite anguished and he was chiding us and he said, ‘You have to realize these boys are grieving, they’ve lost their mother.’
“People forget that the royal family was there in Balmoral to deal with this terrible situation,” Anji said, adding: “I think [the Queen] didn’t want to be pushed around.’
The Queen eventually returned to London and spoke to the crowd outside Buckingham Palace for more than 10 minutes, along with her husband, Prince Philip.
‘Madam, take care of the boys’ was filmed as someone said to the monarch, to which the then Duke of Edinburgh said: ‘That’s what we’ve done.’
On September 5, the Queen finally delivered a rare televised speech, addressing the grieving British public as both “your Queen” and “as Grandmother.”
The documentary also covered the outpouring of grief when the Queen Mother died in 2002, with Anji claiming that Queen Elizabeth “showed a little more emotion” in a speech to the nation and was “a little bit more emotionally intelligent than she might have been.” .
Sir Malcolm Ross said the monarch, pictured with Princes Philip, Charles, William and Harry watching floral tributes to Diana at Balmoral in 1997, made the decision to hold a royal funeral
The Queen was said to have been deeply “hurt” by public criticism of her handling of Diana’s death, but agreed to address the nation as part of her sense of duty, according to BBC One documentary Diana, 7 Days (2017).
According to former high courtier Sir Malcolm Ross, who was in charge of organizing the funeral, the monarch felt her priority was with her grandsons in Scotland and both she and her staff were upset by the upsurge in sentiment against them.
Nevertheless, he said, it was the sovereign who decided that her former daughter-in-law should be honored with a royal funeral.
And she also agreed to lower the Union flag at Buckingham Palace, even though it went against age-old traditions.
Sir Malcolm said, ‘I knew the Queen would be very strong in her views. She didn’t lower the standard on her father’s death and she wouldn’t lower the standard on someone else’s death. These protocols are crucial to maintain standards.’
The Queen arrives at the funeral service for Diana, Princess of Wales, at Westminster Abbey on September 6, 1997
Princess Anne also said the Queen was doing ‘just the right thing’ by staying with Princes William and Harry in Balmoral
The princess said, “I think my mother did exactly the right thing. I think it’s absolutely extraordinary for a sane parent to believe… [there] would have been an alternative to bring those kids to London in all that hassle here.
“I just don’t know how you could think that would have been better.” When asked if it was a case of the Queen putting her grandchildren first, the Princess Royal replied: “Absolutely.”
“I don’t think those two could have made it if they had been elsewhere,” Anne claimed.
She said, “That was the only good thing that happened was they were there, and they had that structure, they had people around them who could understand, give them time.”
Even Diana’s own sister, Lady Sarah McCorquodale, said she supported the monarch’s verdict.
“If you were the grandmother of a 12-year-old and a 15-year-old whose mother had just been killed in a car accident, she was definitely doing the right thing. If I had been her, I would have. Why would you bring them to London?
“Why don’t you let them get over the beginning of the shock in the bosom of their own family?” she asked.
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair said it was ‘very difficult to work out exactly what the Queen was thinking at the moment’.
He said, “I think she was resisting anything that appeared to her as false or appeared to her as a public relations event in the face of something that was a deep personal tragedy.
“Because of Princess Diana’s relationship with the monarchy and with Prince Charles, there was a risk that the sense of loss in the country would turn into anger and resentment and then turn against the monarchy. So the first conversation with the Queen was an important conversation.
“She was obviously very sad about Diana. She was concerned about the monarchy itself, because the queen has a very strong instinct about public opinion and how it plays out.’
All episodes of The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor are available to stream exclusively on ITVX starting today