Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 7, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba At the anguish of aids and his Sui ceremony went off without a hitch editor s note Hugh a. Mulligan was inside St. Paul a Cathedral for the wedding of Diana Spencer and Prince Charles in 1981. Yesterday he was inside Westminster a they for Diana is funeral. By Hugh a. Mulligan associated press London a then 16 years ago a shy Diana Spencer emerged from a Glass coach in an Ivory silk taffeta wedding gown trailing an eight metre train to become the Princess of Wales. Now Here was another rare English summer Day with sunlight slanting Blue beams through stained Glass windows and the streets lined with even larger crowds a 20 deep outside the Abbey. But the music was solemn and Mournful and muffled Bells in the tall Tower tumbled out a Dirge across the sparkling thames. A portion of the princesses funeral service echoed her wedding prime minister Tony Blair a moving rendition of St. Paul a letter to the corinthians on love being the greatest of All Virtues read those years ago by a Welsh minister. And one More Echo David Emanuel designer of Diana a luxurious wedding dress was at the funeral As Well. Only now he was openly weeping As Elton John Sang a Mournful tribute. Conflicting emotions this was a Day of contrasting and sometimes conflicting family emotions. What the Liturgy sought to bind together protocol seemed to be pulling asunder. The Royal family was seated on the South or right Side of the main wide aisle the spencers were across from them on the North Side. Although the ninth Earl Spencer is the Queens Godson the trains never met at the altar. Not a single Windsor had a speaking role in the 71-minute service which summoned both Diana a Sisters to the lectern for Brief poetry readings. The vip congregation put aside formal Church manners and erupted in sustained applause after the Earl Spencer Diana a brother climbed the High pulpit to deliver an attack on the Media. Only two groups refrained from clapping the Royal family who came in for a dig from the Earl about Diana needing a no Royal title to continue to generate her particular Brand of magic a and the modes sized press delegation sequestered behind the pillars in a Side aisle. The funeral service for the Princess mourned around the world was a multicultural Medley of classical Folk and popular music ranging from Johns Candle in the wind to Diana a Favourite refrain from Verdi a surging requiem by Soprano Lynne Dawson and the bbl singers to the Welsh National Anthem an Irish hymn to the tune of Danny boy. The great pipe Organ sonorous by sighed out Bach Mendelssohn Elgar and the african american spiritual Antonin Dvorak wove into his symphony from the new world. One thing after another was new unheard of. From the Union Jack flying at half staff Over Buckingham Palace for the first time to the Queen delivering an address in a rare live to appearance Diana in death was exerting a greater influence than she Ever did in life. In the masses who slept out All night to watch her funeral cortege in the More than a million Floral bouquets that carpeted the sidewalks there was evidence of How her Wrin kled nose smile had relaxed the traditional British stiff upper lip to allow for unabashed sorrow. The meticulously timed and dramatic ceremony went off without a missed line or Cue unlike the Royal wedding when Diana put Philip ahead of Charles in pledging her troth to Charles Philip Arthur George causing Prince Andrew to remark a she married my the tolling Bells cried out to the sky How different the two main events were that bracketed Diana a life with the royals. For four hours after the wedding St. Paul a great Tom and great Paul had tumultuous by jangled and so londoners claimed flattened the Beer at pubs for eight Kilometres up and Down the River. On saturday the abbeys muffled Tenor Bells were slow paced and dreary. But the sudden morning Sunshine after the rain showers that pelted those in Long queues to sign the condolence books on the final night of waking seemed to lift the spirits of the million plus people watching the cortege pass by. Spencer assails royals Media dianas brother accuses monarchy of insensitivity a cml Al Ali text of the Earl Spencer a Eulogy to his sister Diana Princess of Wales Quot i stand before you today the representative of a family in grief in a country in mourning before a world in Shock. A we Are All United not Only in our desire to pay our respects to Diana but rather in our need to do so. A for such was her extraordinary Appeal that the tens of millions of people taking part in this service All Over the world via television and radio who never actually met her feel that they too lost someone dose to them in the Early hours of sunday morning. It is a More remarkable tribute to Diana than i can Ever Hope to offer her today. A Diana was the very essence of compassion of duty of style of Beauty. All Over the world she was a Symbol of selfless humanity. All Over the world a Standard bearer for the rights of the truly Downtrodden a very British girl who transcended nationality. 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. A today is our Chance to say thank you for the Way you brightened our lives even though god granted you but half a life. We will All feel cheated always that you were taken from us so Young and yet we must learn to be grateful that you came along at All. Only now that you Are gone do we truly appreciate what we Are now without and we want you to know that life without you is very very difficult. A we have All despaired at our loss Over the past week and Only the strength of the message you gave us through your years of giving has afforded us the strength to move Forward. A there is a temptation to Rush to canonize your memory a there is no need to do so. You stand tall enough As a human being of unique qualities not to need to be seen As a Saint. Indeed to Sanctify your memory would be to miss out on the very Core of your being your wonderfully mis Chievous sense of Humour with a laugh her special Day with friends but was guest fling. A your Joy for ufos transmitted wherever you took your smile and the sparkle in those unforgettable eyes. Your boundless Energy which you could barely contain. A but your greatest gift was your intuition and it was a gift you used wisely. This is what underpinned All your other wonderful attributes and if we look to Analyse what it was about you that had such a wide Appeal we find it in your instinctive feel for what was really important in All our lives. Quot without your god Given sensitivity we would be immersed in the Isola the random destruction of landmines. A a Diana explained to me once that it was her innermost feelings of suffering that made it possible for her to connect with her constituency of the rejected. A a and Here we come to another truth about her. For All the status the Glamour the applause Diana remained throughout a very insecure person at heart almost childlike in her desire to do Good for others so she could release herself from deep feelings of unworthiness of which her eating disorders were merely a symptom. A the world sensed this part of her character and cherished her for her vulnerability whilst admiring her for her honesty. A the last time i saw Diana was on july 1, her birthday in London when typically she was not taking time to celebrate of honour at a special Charity fund raising a my own and Only explanation is that evening. She sparkled of course but i 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 a girl Given the name of the ancient goddess of Hunting was in the end the most hunted person of the modern age. A 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 to regularly drive you to tearful Spencer left Prince William Prince Harry Prince Charles. Her in March when she came to visit me and my children in our Home in South Africa. I am proud of the fact that apart from when she was on display meeting president Mandela we managed to contrive to Stop the Ever present paparazzi from getting a single picture other that meant a lot to her. A these were Days i will always treasure it was As if we had been transported Back to our childhood when we spent such an enormous amount of time together a the two youngest in the family. A fundamentally she had not changed at All from the big sister who mothered me As a baby fought with me at school and endured those Long train journeys Between our parents Homes with me at weekends. A it is a tribute to her level headed Ness and strength that despite the most bizarre like life imaginable after her childhood she remained intact True to herself. A there is no doubt that she was looking for a new direction in her life at this time. She talked endlessly of getting away from England mainly because of the treatment that she received at the hands of the newspapers. 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. It is bad a and beyond that 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. A we fully respect the heritage into which they have both been born and will always respect and encourage them in their Royal role but we like you recognize the need for them to experience As Many different aspects of life As possible to Arm them spiritually and emotionally for the years ahead. I know you would have expected nothing less from us. A William and Harry we All cared desperately for you today. We Are All chewed up with the sadness at the loss of a woman who was not even our Mother. How great your suffering is we cannot even imagine. A i would like to end by thanking god for the Small mercies he has shown us at this dreadful time. For taking Diana at her most Beautiful and Radiant and when she had Joy in her private life. Above All we give thanks for the life of a woman i am so proud to be Able to Call my sister the unique the Complex the extraordinary and irreplaceable Diana whose Beauty both internal and external will never be extinguished from our a Canadian press by Sarah Lyall new York times London a amid the soothing pomp and ceremony of the funeral of Diana Princess of Wales the Eulogy of her younger brother Earl Spencer burst Forth yesterday As an undiluted cry of pain and anger. His tone was respectful and his Demeanour composed. But lord Spencer a searing address at Westminster Abbey represented an enormous break with tradition and a stunning indictment of the Way his sister had been treated by the two forces that had most influenced the Way she lived her final years the Royal family and the news Media. The Early a remarks were All the More remarkable because in a sense he was attacking the Royal family in their own Church and at a service they had helped plan and were attending As the most distinguished guests. Diana a former in Laws had apparently made peace with her in death. But it was As if the Earl wanted to say that despite this he had not forgotten the slights she suffered at their hands. In a direct reference to the Queens decision last year to strip Diana of the title her Royal highness As a condition of her divorce from Prince Charles the heir to the throne Spencer said his sister was she had demonstrated since the divorce and her near ejection from Royal status he said pointedly a that she needed no Royal title to continue to generate her own particular Brand of and he went out of his Way to emphasize the differences Between Diana swarm spontaneous sometimes painfully candid style of living and the Royal family a grim adherence to tradition to duty to keeping Earl Spencer addresses the congregation at Westminster Abbey during his Sisters funeral yesterday. He condemned the Media and pledged to protect Diana a sons from their intrusion and to help them grow up to be like their Mother. Emotions in Check rather than expressing them openly. The spencers a Diana so blood family a he called them making the distinction with the family of her former in Laws a would do their Best to help rear her two sons in the Way Diana herself would have wanted lord Spencer said. Addressing his remarks to his dead sister the Earl said a we will do All we can to continue the imaginative and Loving 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. Applause a we fully respect the heritage into which they have both been bom and will always respect and encourage them in their Royal role. But we like you recognize the need for them to experience As Many different aspects of life As pos sible to Arm them spiritually and emotionally for the years in another startling break with tradition a almost As startling As seeing Elton John singing at such a solemn service and at such a solemn site a some mourners in the Abbey burst into applause after the Early a remarks. Outside thousands of people watching on screens set up in Hyde Park were applauding too Many of them gave the Earl a standing ovation. The Earl and his two Sisters All spoke at the service As did prime minister Tony Blair. But it was significant that no member of the Royal family addressed the mourners. Nor was any member of the family except Prince Charles who was accompanying his two sons present at the Spencer family service on Althorp estate. Lord Spencer directed his angriest comments at the news Media on which last week he had placed responsibility for Diana a death and which he said yesterday a used regularly to drive her to tearful his sister he said had seriously considered moving away from Britain a because of the treatment she received at the hands of the newspapers. A i done to 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 a he said. A it is baffling. My own and Only explanation is that genuine goodness is threatening to those at the opposite end of the moral finally the Earl spoke warmly and personally of his sister saying that beyond All her Beauty and Glamour she was at heart an extremely vulnerable Young woman with a deep feelings of unworthiness of which her eating disorders were merely a Diana once said on television that her in Laws had never understood her eating problems and that when it became Clear she suffered from bulimia they had told her she was wasting food. A ;