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Published : 31 Aug 2022, 05:33 AM
It was Aug 31 25 years ago that Princess Diana – England’s Rose - met with a fatal accident when the Mercedes S-280 carrying her and her friend Dodi Fayed smashed into the 13th pillar of the Alma Tunnel in Paris, which straddles the dual carriageway running alongside the River Seine. The mass outpour of grief in Britain that followed the death of this iconic figure had not been seen for many years.
Although 25 years have passed since that terrible accident and death of Princess Diana, the events of the days of her accident, death and funeral have become the most memorable and challenging events in my radio broadcasting career with the Bangla Section in BBC World Service Radio. The memories of those few days are still etched in my heart.
I was the producer/presenter of the dawn programme, which used to be broadcast at 1:30am British Standard Time. All preparations were made as planned, and my colleague Mustafa Kamal Milan and I were all set to go to the studio 15 minutes before the broadcast for the rehearsal with the Studio Manager. But suddenly the news of the accident began to unfold; the tannoy in Bush House announced that Princess Diana was involved in an accident in Paris. This changed the whole running order with this news becoming the top headline. I asked Milan to take the papers and tapes to the studio and explain what we were going to broadcast to the Studio Manager and I would be there after translating the top news.
We had an efficient and experienced Studio Manager, Chris Millward, and I explained to him what signs I would be giving him during the session. The programme started with me reading the news with the top item being that of Princess Diana being involved in an accident in Paris.
The car that left Hilton Paris with Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed was travelling at a very high speed to avoid the paparazzi that were chasing the car. We also informed the listeners that more news was coming in. As the first tape was being played after the news, I asked Milan to get me the one-liner news that were coming in thick and fast into the studio. There was no time to get these news items to be written in Bangla before broadcast and that was the real challenge that I faced. I had no other choice but to take up the challenge and just read the news in Bangla from these one-liners sent in English from the newsroom just by looking at them. Milan was a great help as he continually brought the one-liner news and handed them over to me for broadcast in Bangla. By the time the programme ended, we did not receive the news of Princess Diana's tragic death. She was taken to the Pitie- Selpetriere Hospital in Paris where she had undergone surgery but sadly the hospital announced her death at 4:00am Paris time on Aug 31, 1997.
Only a few months earlier, Tony Blair had won an overwhelming victory and became the prime minister. He was informed about the princess's death and so was the royal family who were at Balmoral, Scotland at the time. In his statement, Blair hailed Diana as the People's Princess and was in constant contact with the Queen. Prince Charles informed his two sons, Princes William and Harry, 15 and 12 respectively at the time, of their mother's death.
Prince Charles, whose divorce from the Princess was finalised in August 1996, flew to Paris with her two sisters Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes to bring Diana's body to London. French President Jacques Chirac and his wife Bernadette met them at the hospital where the 36-year-old Princess's body lay. I was involved with two broadcasts, Probaho and Parikrama, of BBC World Service, Bangla Section on that day. Parikrama ended before the plane carrying the princess's body landed at RAF Northolt where Prime Minister Blair was present. The Queen in the meantime had returned to London and made a special broadcast to the nation after being criticised by many for not making the broadcast earlier. Bowing to public pressure and demand, the Royal Flag at Buckingham Palace flew at half-mast.
The funeral was fixed for Sept 6, 1997, to be held at Westminster Abbey. That was a Saturday, the day when I used to be at Bush House for almost the whole year, to produce and present the weekly sports programme, MatheMaidane. I for one was very pleased as I would not have to go to Bush House on that day and would be able to watch the funeral on television from the comforts of my home. But the Bangla Section had other ideas and plans for me. The Section Head called me on Thursday to say that I have been assigned to cover the funeral for the section. I had to get all the formalities completed, including getting my Photo ID Card done on Friday.
Thousands of people had been gathering around Westminster Abbey since Friday night to get to vantage points and by the time I reached Westminster at about 6:30 in the morning on Saturday, the whole area resembled a vast sea of people. I had to struggle getting through this huge crowd to come to the main road and show a policeman on duty my credentials so that I could go to the temporary studio just behind the abbey. For the first time, I saw the roads being washed in London.
Bangla Section, in those days, used to broadcast a programme at 9:00am British Standard Time (2:00am Bangladesh Time) and I was asked to send a short scene-setter piece (to be recorded) before reporting live. In that scene-setter, I also included a translation of the first four lines of a song that was to be rendered by Elton John at the funeral. Guests and dignitaries had by then begun to arrive at Westminster Abbey.
Royalties, friends and family, and personalities from the films and entertainment world like Tom Cruise, his wife Nicole Kidman, Tom Hanks, director Steven Spielberg and singers George Michael and Luciano Pavarotti arrived to pay their respects. Also present were Hillary Clinton and Bernadette Chirac, wives of the US and French presidents respectively. Suzanne Mubarak represented Egypt. Present too were the family of Dodi Fayed, with whom she died. Dodi's father Mohamed Al Fayed, the owner of Harrods, arrived with his wife Heine.
Earlier, Princess Diana's body draped in the Royal Standard was carried in a horse-driven hearse from Kensington Palace. Following the hearse were Prince Philip, Diana's brother Lord Spencer, Prince William, Prince Harry and Prince Charles. As the hearse was passing the Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace, the Queen and other members of the royal family came down to the front of the palace gates. The Queen was publicly seen bowing her head as she paid her respects to the departed princess.
The funeral service at the Westminster Abbey was a very touching and heart-wrenching occasion. Many inside and outside the Abbey could not hold their tears when Elton John rendered a re-written version of his 1973 song, 'Candle in the Wind’ which was originally written as a tribute to Marilyn Monroe. The first stanza of the new version went as follows:
Goodbye England's rose,
May you ever grow in our hearts
You were the grace that placed itself
Where lives were torn apart
You called out to our country
And you whispered to those in pain
Now you belong to heaven
And the stars spell out your name.
This new version was recorded in September 1997 and all proceeds went towards Princess Diana's charities in many countries. Elton John, despite many requests, declined to render this revised version in any public performance.
Reporting Princess Diana's funeral live from Westminster for Probaho for BBC Bangla Section on that day was an experience that is rekindled after 25 years when the popularity of the princess does not show any sign of waning. By the time Probaho was coming to a close, Diana's body, after the funeral, was being taken up the M1 to the Spencer family home for a private funeral.
After returning to Bush House after this eventful assignment, I was asked to produce a recorded piece describing all the day's events for the late-night broadcast which was to be repeated in the following morning's programme.
I have had some very memorable events to cover during my radio broadcasting career, but this single event of Princess Diana's funeral has no comparison. As the print and electronic media relive the events of 25 years ago surrounding this remarkable lady's tragic death, the events from her accident and death to her funeral shall remain ever-engraved in my memory.
[Uday Sankar Das is a senior journalist, political commentator and sports analyst]
