AP Was There: Mourners gather for Princess Diana’s funeral

FILE- In this Saturday, Sept. 6, 1997 file photo, Britain's Prince Charles, Prince Harry, Earl Charles Spencer, Prince William and Prince Philip, from left, stand as the coffin bearing the body of Princess Diana is taken into Westminster Abbey in London. It has been 20 years since the death of Princess Diana in a car crash in Paris and the outpouring of grief that followed the death of the "people's princess." (AP Photo/John Gaps III, Pool, File)

By Associated Press August 30, 2017 8 min read

LONDON (AP) – Princess Diana’s funeral, held less than a week after her shocking death in a high-speed Paris car crash, drew more than a million people to London. Millions more watched on TV.

Nearly two decades after its original publication, The Associated Press is making available correspondent Maureen Johnson’s Sept. 6, 1997, report on the event.

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With timeless splendor, a sea of tears and a brother’s rage, Britain bade farewell today to its “Queen of Hearts,” a million mourners or more seeing Diana, Princess of Wales, to her final rest after a life of golden days, heartache and too few years.

“All over the world she was a symbol of selfless humanity,” said her brother, Charles.