'The British public wanted the Queen to dance to their tune' after Diana died - but Her late Majesty 'wasn't having that' and 'didn't want to be pushed around', new docuseries claims
- The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor is released today on ITVX
- READ MORE: Former Archbishop of Canterbury who was 'pitched in to help' with Charles and Diana's marriage says they were never going to be 'successful'
A new docuseries about the Royal Family has claimed Queen Elizabeth II didn't want to be 'pushed around' by the British public after Princess Diana's death - and 'behaved as any grandmother would have'.
ITVX's The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor, which has been released today, dedicated its fourth episode to exploring Her late Majesty's decisions following the passing of the then Princess of Wales in 1997.
After the devastating news broke around the world, the Queen remained at her Scottish home of Balmoral, where she and several members of her family had been enjoying their summer holiday. She was joined by Diana's sons Princes William and Harry, then aged 15 and 12, respectively.
But the decision to stay away from Buckingham Palace and the grieving crowds that lined the gates, as well as her silence in the days after the princess' death, was deeply criticised by some of the mourning 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, told the documentary. Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey added: '"Your Majesty, your country needs you to come and comfort us", well The Queen wasn't having that.'
A new docuseries about the Royal Family has claimed Queen Elizabeth II (pictured delivering a speech about the death of Diana in 1997) didn't want to be 'pushed around' by the British public after Princess Diana's death - and 'behaved as any grandmother would have'
In the programme, members of the public interviewed at the time shared their criticism of the monarch shortly after Diana's passing. The princess died in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997.
'Our Queen should be in London with our people and they should know how all her people feel about Diana,' said one tearful woman. 'I think it's disgusting, they've not appeared or said a word,' another added.
Another woman insisted she found the Royal Family's behaviour in the days after Diana's death 'very, very disgraceful'.
Lady Anne Glenconner, however, said Queen Elizabeth 'behaved as an any grandmother would.'
'She stayed in Scotland, because William and Harry were there, and she looked after them, and that's what you do,' added the 90-year-old socialite.
She continued: 'Princess Margaret, of course, lived at 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 from these flowers at 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
ITVX's The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor, which has been released today, dedicated its fourth episode to exploring Her late Majesty's (pictured with Diana in 1986) decisions following the passing of the then Princess of Wales in 1997
'I don't know what happened, this extraordinary outpouring of grief, people just went mad, screaming and crying.'
But while the Queen kept her silence, the country's Prime Minister at the time, Tony Blair, who had only been in the job for four months, addressed the public.
Anji Hunter, Director of Government Relations from 1997 to 2001, who played an intimate part in the arrangements for the funeral, recalled: 'I spoke to Tony very very early, he rang me and said this is enormous.
'Tony went out a couple of times to fill the vacuum, where are the royal family... they were not visible.'
Anji also recalled being 'reprimanded' by Prince Philip over a speaker at Buckingham Palace, explaining: 'Suddenly this voice came through, I'll never forget it.
'It was Prince Philip's voice, and it was quite anguished and he reprimanded us and he said "you must realise these boys are grieving, they have lost their mother."
'People forget that the Royal Family were up there in Balmoral dealing with this most terrible situation,' said Anji, adding: 'I think [the Queen] didn't want to be pushed around.'
The Queen eventually returned to London and spent more than 10 minutes speaking to the crowd outside Buckingham Palace, alongside her husband, Prince Philip.
'Ma'am, take care of the boys,' one person was filmed telling the monarch, to which the then Duke of Edinburgh said: 'That's what we've been doing.'
On September 5, the Queen finally gave a rare, televised speech, addressing the grieving British public as both 'your Queen' and 'as a grandmother'.
The documentary also covered the outpouring of grief when The Queen Mother died in 2002, with Anji claiming Queen Elizabeth 'showed a bit more emotion' in a speech to the nation and was a 'little bit more emotionally intelligent than perhaps she used to be'.
Sir Malcolm Ross said the monarch, pictured with Princes Philip, Charles, William and Harry looking at floral tributes to Diana at Balmoral in 1997, made the decision to have a royal funeral
The Queen was said to be deeply ‘hurt’ by public criticism of the way she handled 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 senior courtier, Sir Malcolm Ross, who was in charge of organising the funeral, the monarch felt her priority lay with her grandsons in Scotland and both she and her staff were upset at the upsurge of feeling against them.
Despite this, he said, it was the sovereign who made the decision that her former daughter-in-law be honoured with a royal funeral.
And she also agreed to lower the Union flag at Buckingham Palace even though that went contrary to centuries old traditions.
Sir Malcolm said: ‘I knew the Queen would be very strong in her views. She didn't lower the standard on the death of her father and she wouldn’t lower the standard on the death of anybody else. 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
The Princess Royal said: 'I think my mother did exactly the right thing. I think it's absolutely extraordinary that any right-minded parent should believe... [there] would have been an alternative to bring those children down here to London in all that hoo-ha.
'I just don't know how you can think that would've been a better thing to do.' When asked if it was a case of the Queen putting her grandchildren first, the Princess Royal replied: 'Absolutely.'
'I don't think either of those two would've been able to cope had they been anywhere else,' Anne claimed.
She said: 'That was the only good thing that happened was that they were there, and they had that structure, they had people around them who could understand, give them the time.'
Even Diana’s own sister, Lady Sarah McCorquodale, said she backed the monarch’s judgement.
‘If you were the grandmother of a 12-year-old and a 15-year-old whose mother had just been killed in a car crash, she did absolutely the right thing. If I had been her, I would have done that. Why would you bring them to London?
'Why don’t you let them get over the start of the shock in the bosom of their own family?’ she asked.
Former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, said that it was ‘very difficult to work out exactly what the Queen was thinking at this time.’
He said: ‘I think she was resistant to anything that struck her as false or struck her as a public relations event in the face of something that was a profound personal tragedy.
‘Princess Diana’s relationship that she had with the monarchy and the relationship with Prince Charles, there was going to be a risk that the country’s sense of loss turned to a sense of anger and grievance and then turned 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.'
All episodes of The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor are available to stream exclusively on ITVX from today
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