Sky News documentary: Princess Diana’s final hours and enduring legacy

The moving accounts of those who witnessed first-hand the events surrounding the death of Princess Diana will be broadcast in a new Sky documentary.

The programme, Diana: The People’s Princess, looks at Diana’s final hours, the extraordinary events leading up to her funeral and the enduring legacy of her charitable work.

It will be shown on Sky1 at 8pm on Tuesday, ahead of the 20th anniversary of her death on the 31 August next week.

One poignant recollection comes from the man who was military attaché to the British Embassy in Paris at the time.

Brigadier Charles Ritchie helped with the repatriation of Diana’s body back to the UK, and more significantly broke protocol by deciding that the Royal Standard and not the Union Flag should be draped on the coffin.

In the programme Brigadier Ritchie says: "Her body was in a coffin, there was never a mark on her face, she was beautifully made up, she looked as though she was sleeping.

"The RAF sergeant as I recall said, ‘Which flag shall we put on the coffin sir?’ And I said, ‘What flag have you got?’ And he said the Union Flag and the Royal Standard.

"I said, ‘Well my head says the Union Jack, my heart says the Royal Standard’. Unless it is a member of the Royal family that is dead the Royal Standard should not be used.

"And I said ‘put on the Royal Standard I will take responsibility.’"

The Standard Flag is normally only used for members of the Royal family. From the time of her divorce Diana was no longer known as Her Royal Highness.

Speaking about the reaction to his unorthodox choice he adds: "I was merely told technically I was wrong, but when you saw the reaction of the public…

"An official communication then arrived to the ambassador informing him to thank me for the unconventional decision I had taken, full stop."

Another extract from the documentary features Philip Bartlett, who was only 23 and serving in the Welsh Guards, when he was asked to be one of the pallbearers on the day of Diana’s funeral.

In the programme he talks movingly about what it meant to carry her coffin and escort the gun carriage through the centre of London on the way to Westminster Abbey.

Talking about the first moment they lifted her coffin and the huge responsibility of that day he says: "It was the first time we actually felt the weight of the coffin, we lifted it up and we thought this is quite heavy this is.

"As we were going past Buckingham Palace we were told that the Queen will be there so we did the eyes right.

"As we carried on up the Mall we knew that just by the gates of St James’s that Prince Harry and Prince William, and Prince Charles would join us, and Earl Spencer and Prince Philip.

"You had to keep your head up, had to look proud, your arms down by your side, you can’t be fidgeting, but that was very hard to do because each stage of that four-and-a-half mile mark there was cheering, there were people clapping, there were people crying, there were so many different emotions and you were going through that with them."

An American couple who were among the first people to witness the scene of the crash inside the tunnel in Paris share their story, along with journalists who reported on the news that the Princess of Wales has died.

Parents and charity workers who met the Princess through her charity work also feature in this latest documentary, reflecting on her unforgettable spirit that people are still drawn to 20 years on.

Diana: The People’s Princess is on Sky1 HD, Tuesday, at 8pm

(c) Sky News 2017: Sky News documentary: Princess Diana’s final hours and enduring legacy