A new documentary, Diana: 7 Days That Shook The Windsors, claims the way in Princess Diana’s death was handled by the Royal Family led Prince Harry to question whether or not his mother had really passed away.
Prince William was just 15 and his brother Prince Harry only 12, when their beloved mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, was tragically killed in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997.
At the time, the Princes were in Balmoral with Queen Elizabeth, who chose to let her grandsons sleep-in rather than than being woken and told the devastating news. She ordered all TVs and radios in the expansive residence to be moved or hidden, shielding the young boys from potentially hearing and seeing their mother’s final moments.
When the news was finally broken to them, the boys were led to church for Sunday service and according to the documentary at the Royal Family’s request there was no mention of Diana at the service.
The boys were just 15 and 12 respectively when their mother died in a car crash.
More than two million people lined the streets to Westminster Abbey in a bid to say their final goodbye to the People’s Princess.
Since her tragic death in 1997, William and Harry have made it their life’s work to continue their late mother’s incredible legacy.
The attempt at normalcy reportedly led Prince Harry to ask of his father, Prince Charles, whether his mother truly had died.
Tina Brown, the princess’ biographer claimed: “Prince Harry actually asked his father, ‘Is it true that Mummy’s dead?’ The children couldn’t understand why everything was as normal, except a couple of hours earlier they’d been told their mother had died.”
Ingrid Seward, royal biographer, added: “The first thing we saw of the boys was when they were going to church for Sunday service and people were saying ‘how could they, these boys have just lost they mother, and they’re going to church?'”
It’s believed a young Prince Harry had requested to join his dad on the Royal Flight private plane to retrieve Princess Diana’s body, but was ordered to stay at home.
WATCH: Prince Harry speaks about his desire to honour his late mother’s life. Post continues…
Charles was joined by his former wife’s butler at the time Paul Burrell and Colin Tebbutt, her chauffeur and security consultant.
Paul and Colin explained in the show that they were forced to create a makeshift morgue.
“I honestly thought entering that room and looking at her, ‘She is not really dead, it’s just a joke, a very silly joke and you can wake up’,” Paul recalled about the moment he saw Diana’s body.
While Colin reflected, “Everyone was in shock … I noticed that hair of the princess was moving, which was from fans I had put in the room, and just for that massive minuscule of a second I thought was she alive, which was a silly thing to think.”
“The Prince came up to me and thanked me for being there and asked if there were any members of the clergy there, and Paul went and got the two vicars, and the two vicars and sisters went into the room and the door was shut.”
In the documentary, Anji Hunter, who was then-Prime Minister Tony Blair’s adviser, told how there was tension over who should walk behind the much-loved royal’s coffin.
Explaining how Diana’s sons wanted to mourn in private and were reluctant to do so, she said, “I can remember and it sends a tingle up my back thinking about it.”
“We were talking and then, from the speakerphone on the table, came Prince Philip’s voice, and it was anguished. ‘These are the boys here, we are talking about these boys, they have lost their mum.’”
“It brought it all home to us.”
At the eleventh hour, the royal siblings changed their minds and joined their father Prince Charles, grandfather Prince Philip and uncle Charles Spencer, as they all walked behind her coffin.
Prince William and Harry at Diana’s funeral, September 1997.
Diana’s death stopped the world, but her private secretary Patrick Jepson admitted at the time, they weren’t sure if enough people would come to pay their respects.
“There was no rule book to go to, no precedent, no tradition – nothing fitted the royal game plan. I remember saying if you get hold of a guest list for the Princess’s Christmas drinks in 1995, invite everybody on that guest list and you won’t have missed out anybody important,” he reflected.
Over two million people lined the streets to Westminster Abbey in a bid to say their final goodbye to the People’s Princess.
