queen's speech about diana's death

How Queen Elizabeth Reacted to Princess Diana's Death

After mounting public pressure, Queen Elizabeth addressed the nation as "your queen and as a grandmother."

This enraged Britons, who felt that she needed to respond to the grief of the nation. Headlines asked , "Where Is Our Queen?" "Your People Are Suffering, Speak to Us Ma'am" and "Show Us You Care."

Finally on September 4, 1997, Queen Elizabeth appeared outside Balmoral Castle to view flower tributes, and on September 5, she viewed tributes outside Buckingham Palace. That evening, Queen Elizabeth delivered a televised address , where she said addressed the nation "as your queen and as a grandmother."

She said, "I want to pay tribute to Diana myself. She was an exceptional and gifted human being. In good times and bad, she never lost her capacity to smile and laugh, nor to inspire others with her warmth and kindness. I admired and respected her—for her energy and commitment to others, and especially for her devotion to her two boys. This week at Balmoral, we have all been trying to help William and Harry come to terms with the devastating loss that they and the rest of us have suffered."

She attended Princess Diana's funeral with the rest of the royal family, and she bowed her head to the coffin as it passed. As The Washington Post later reported, " It was not a quick bow, nor a shallow one. The woman accustomed to being bowed by the world now lowered her head and humbly honored the princess. More than anything, it was the bow that broke the fever of anger directed at the queen and her family."

Years later, a private letter she wrote at the time was published —revealing Queen Elizabeth's feelings on Princess Diana's death. "It was indeed dreadfully sad, and she is a huge loss to the country," Queen Elizabeth wrote to Lady Henriette Abel Smith , one of her ladies in waiting. "But the public reaction to her death, and the service in the Abbey, seem to have united people round the world in a rather inspiring way. William and Harry have been so brave and I am very proud of them."

Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, the royals, and a range of other subjects. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma , a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram .

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Royal lookback: The Queen's historic address following Princess Diana's death

By Maddison Leach | 4 years ago

In her decades-long reign, Queen Elizabeth has only given a formal address to the nation a handful of times.

One of the most memorable was also the most tragic, Her Majesty appearing for a televised address just days after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

The 'People's Princess' had died in a tragic car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997, leaving her sons without a mother and the nation without one of its most beloved royals.

On the eve of her funeral, Diana was remembered by her grandmother-in-law the Queen in an address that left millions of mourners touched.

Dressed in black and wearing pearls, Her Majesty spoke to the people of Britain and abroad from the Chinese Dining Room in Buckingham Palace on September 5.

Behind her a window stood open, revealing the crowds that had gathered outside the palace to pay their respects to Diana and leave thousands of flowers and tributes.

Her Majesty's speech was written by a number of royal advisors and then passed to the Queen for approval, she and Prince Philip choosing to make several amendments to improve its tone.

It's understood she wanted the speech to feel less like the official statement of a monarch, and the iconic phrase "speaking as a grandmother" was added.

"We have all felt those emotions in these last few days. So what I say to you now, as your Queen and as a grandmother, I say from my heart," Her Majesty said in the opening of her address.

"First, I want to pay tribute to Diana myself. She was an exceptional and gifted human being. In good times and bad, she never lost her capacity to smile and laugh, nor to inspire others with her warmth and kindness."

Originally the address was going to be pre-recorded and broadcast after the fact, but the government urged royal officials to have the Queen deliver it live.

They agreed, and on the evening of September 5 Her Majesty sat down and spoke to a grieving nation not as their monarch, but "as a grandmother".

It was a moving moment that came after days of frustration among many of Diana's greatest fans.

The monarchy had been quiet in the days immediately after her death and some critics claimed the Queen and royal family were ignoring the tragedy of her loss.

Her Majesty, who had been at Balmoral when news of Diana's death came in, took "too long" to return to London in the eyes of the public.

It's true Diana had a rocky relationship with the royals following her divorce from Prince Charles the year prior.

Since leaving the monarchy, she had struck out on her own and continued to be immensely popular among the public for her charity work and humanitarian efforts.

However, a resurfaced letter sent in the wake of Diana's death revealed the Queen's true heartbreak over her passing.

"It was indeed dreadfully sad, and she is a huge loss to the country," Her Majesty wrote, per  The Express .

"But the public reaction to her death and the service in the Abbey seem to have united people around the world in a rather inspiring way."

Indeed, public frustration melted away when the Queen addressed the nation and paid tribute to Diana.

"I admired and respected her - for her energy and commitment to others, and especially for her devotion to her two boys," the Queen said.

"No-one who knew Diana will ever forget her. Millions of others who never met her, but felt they knew her, will remember her.

"I for one believe that there are lessons to be drawn from her life and from the extraordinary and moving reaction to her death. I share in your determination to cherish her memory."

It was only the second time in the Queen's reign that she addressed the nation, and her speech had a massive impact on the public, with attitudes towards the monarchy quickly shifting.

The next day Diana was buried, and the Queen joined other members of the royal family at the ceremony and on a walkabout afterwards.

During the walkabout she spoke with the crowds mourning Diana and observed the thousands of flowers and tributes left for her, grandsons William and Harry at Her Majesty's side.

It was a rare moment for the Queen, who has always maintained an air of formality and duty at official events.

Yet during her address and the funeral that followed, she gave her people a rare glimpse at the grandmother behind the title "Queen".

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Why There’s Still So Much Controversy 25 Years After Princess Diana’s Death

W ednesday marks 25 years since Princess Diana’s death thrust not only the British royal family but the entire world into shock and mourning. Diana, then 36-years-old, was a glamorous celebrity known for her advocacy for AIDS patients and land mine removal in developing countries.

She was also one of the English-speaking world’s most well-known women, who millions had watched evolve from a shy 20-year-old wife of the older Prince Charles into a global figure whose legacy spurred major changes to the traditional royal family .

Below, how Diana died and her legacy.

What happened on Aug. 31?

The “ People’s Princess ” was killed in a car crash in Paris on Aug. 31, 1997. The incident raised scrutiny over the tabloid press’ coverage of her as well as conspiracy theories around the circumstances of her death.

Diana’s boyfriend at the time, Egyptian-born Dodi Fayed, and driver Henri Paul also died in the crash, which occurred as they tried to evade a group of paparazzi on motorcycles, having left the Ritz Paris to go to Dodi’s apartment. Their vehicle had been reaching speeds of more than 60 mph, although the speed limit was 30 mph; the car eventually rammed into a pillar in the middle of a highway.

In the immediate aftermath of the crash, other paparazzi on the scene faced criticism for taking pictures instead of trying to help, according to witness testimony .

Many initially blamed the paparazzi for causing the crash but a French judge cleared them of wrongdoing in 1999. Prosecutors later revealed that the driver, Paul, had a blood alcohol level three times above the country’s legal limit . An extensive 2006 Scotland Yard investigation determined the crash was a “tragic accident.” But in April 2008, a British jury ruled that the driver and paparazzi were both to blame for grossly negligent driving.

That hasn’t stopped wider scrutiny of the press’ role in hounding Diana and her family. Their fascination with Diana was in part due to her colorful and daring fashion style but also because of the ways she broke from royal tradition .

Diana’s close family members have maintained their strong criticism of the paparazzi. Her brother, Charles Spencer, described his sister as “ the most hunted person of the modern age ”—referring to the press constantly trailing her.

Read More: TIME’s Original 1997 Special Report on Princess Diana’s Death

Fayed’s father, Mohamed al-Fayed, had previously claimed that Diana was pregnant with his son’s child but that has since been disproven by a forensic inquiry . He has also criticized what he says was the royal family’s disapproval of Diana and Dodi’s relationship, citing Dodi’s heritage and Muslim faith .

Diana had publicly discussed her unhappy marriage to Prince Charles, to the Palace’s disapproval, admitting in a bombshell interview with BBC journalist Martin Bashir in 1995 that both had extramarital affairs. “There were three of us in this marriage , so it was a bit crowded,” she said, referring to Prince Charles’s affair with Camilla Parker Bowles. Charles would later marry Parker Bowles in 2005, with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip not in attendance.

Diana and Prince Charles officially divorced in 1996.

The Royal Family’s response

The Queen’s first public address came five days after Diana’s death. “I want to pay tribute to Diana myself. She was an exceptional and gifted human being,” she said in a speech broadcast to the nation. “In good times and bad, she never lost her capacity to smile and laugh, nor to inspire others with her warmth and kindness.”

But the delay in acknowledgement raised scrutiny among some in the British public. Mary Francis, an aide to the Queen, told Newsweek in a 2017 interview that she believed the family was “ somewhat slow , perhaps, to recognize the need to step forward in their public role of showing leadership for the country in its grief about the death of the princess.”

Read More: The 5 Biggest Takeaways From HBO’s New Diana Documentary, The Princess

In recent years, Prince Harry, one of Diana’s two sons, has spoken more openly about his grief. “ I was so angry with what happened to her —and the fact that there was no justice at all. Nothing came from that. The same people that chased her into the tunnel photographed her dying on the backseat of that car,” he said in the 2021 Apple TV+ documentary The Me You Can’t See .

Princess Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, told British media in 2017 that he had been lied to by palace courtiers about the two princes, then 12 and 15, wanting to walk behind their mother’s coffin at the internationally televised funeral. It was a “ bizarre and cruel thing ,” he said, explaining that he had pushed for the duo not to have to do so. He called the procession “the most horrifying half an hour of my life.”

Prince Harry had previously spoken out about how difficult walking behind his mother at the funeral procession was. “My mother had just died and I had to walk a long way behind her coffin surrounded by thousands of people watching me while millions more did on television,” he told Newsweek in a 2017 interview. “I don’t think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances. I don’t think it would happen today.” He later, reflecting on the occasion, said that he was “ very glad ” to have been part of the day.

The relationship between Diana and the paparazzi

The British paparazzi earned a reputation for closely following Diana’s every move; she was one of the most photographed people in the world and snapshots of her could sell for lucrative prices—hundreds of thousands of dollars a piece.

In 1993, Diana sued Mirror Group Newspapers for publishing pictures of her working out in a gym. She also spoke openly about her disdain of being endlessly pursued by paparazzi; once, yelling out to a photographer who took a picture of her leaving a movie theater in 1993: “ you make my life hell. ”

Read More : The Princess and the Paparazzi: How Diana’s Death Changed the British Media

At a speech in December 1993, Diana said that she knew starting a public life would entail media attention but she didn’t realize just how much of her private life would be scrutinized, too. “I was not aware of how overwhelming that attention would become. Nor the extent to which it would affect both my public duties and my personal life, in a manner that’s been hard to bear,” she said.

A 1997 Gallup poll found that 43% of Brits thought photographers were “extremely” responsible for the accident that led to Diana’s death, compared to 33% who assigned the same level of blame to the driver.

A more recent 2018 YouGov poll found that Princess Diana is Britain’s most mourned public figure, a sign of her lasting legacy a quarter of a century after her death.

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On This Day in 1997: The Queen addresses the nation following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales

At 6pm on September 5 1997, The Queen spoke live to the nation to pay tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, who died a week earlier in Paris.

Her Majesty was placed under considerable pressure to deliver the unprecedented speech following a barrage of criticism directed at the monarch for her behaviour in the days after Diana’s death.

The Queen had drawn criticism for staying in Scotland with Princes William and Harry and for not lowering the flag at Buckingham Palace.

But her speech on the eve of Diana’s funeral showed that her first duty had been “as a grandmother” to her grieving grandchildren and shifted public sentiment.

The Queen’s Address to the nation in full:

“Since last Sunday’s dreadful news we have seen, throughout Britain and around the world, an overwhelming expression of sadness at Diana’s death.

“We have all been trying in our different ways to cope. It is not easy to express a sense of loss, since the initial shock is often succeeded by a mixture of other feelings: disbelief, incomprehension, anger – and concern for those who remain. We have all felt those emotions in these last few days. So what I say to you now, as your Queen and as a grandmother, I say from my heart.

“First, I want to pay tribute to Diana myself. She was an exceptional and gifted human being. In good times and bad, she never lost her capacity to smile and laugh, nor to inspire others with her warmth and kindness. I admired and respected her – for her energy and commitment to others, and especially for her devotion to her two boys. This week at Balmoral, we have all been trying to help William and Harry come to terms with the devastating loss that they and the rest of us have suffered.

“No-one who knew Diana will ever forget her. Millions of others who never met her, but felt they knew her, will remember her. I for one believe there are lessons to be drawn from her life and from the extraordinary and moving reaction to her death. I share in your determination to cherish her memory.

“This is also an opportunity for me, on behalf of my family, and especially Prince Charles and William and Harry, to thank all of you who have brought flowers, sent messages and paid your respects in so many ways to a remarkable person. These acts of kindness have been a huge source of help and comfort.

“Our thoughts are also with Diana’s family and the families of those who died with her. I know that they too have drawn strength from what has happened since last weekend, as they seek to heal their sorrow and then to face the future without a loved one.

“I hope that tomorrow we can all, wherever we are, join in expressing our grief at Diana’s loss, and gratitude for her all-too-short life. It is a chance to show to the whole world the British nation united in grief and respect.

“May those who died rest in peace and may we, each and every one of us, thank God for someone who made many, many people happy.”

This was only the second time The Queen had addressed the nation outside of her Christmas Day broadcast.

The first occasion was in 1991 when the monarch addressed the nation on the Gulf War – her only wartime broadcast.

Subsequently, Her Majesty has made speeches upon the death of her mother, a celebratory message to mark her Diamond Jubilee, and just this year released two messages.

One of her 2020 addressed to the nation concerned the ongoing public health emergency, and the other marked the 75th anniversary of VE Day.

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Death of Princess Diana

Queen Elizabeth II addressed the nation on the death of Princess Diana . She paid tribute to Diana’s compassion and thanked persons around the world for the expressions of support for her family.

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How the crown's speech compares to queen elizabeth's address on diana's death.

The Crown season 6 has dramatized the death of Princess Diana and the royal family's response to it. How accurate is Queen Elizabeth's speech?

Warning: spoilers ahead for The Crown season 6.

• The Crown season 6 accurately recreates Queen Elizabeth's speech about Princess Diana's death, using the same wording as the real-life address.
• The controversial aspect of the show's portrayal lies in the cinematography, with the Queen being underlit and underfocused in the speech scene.
• The Crown often takes artistic liberties with historical events, including the appearance of Diana's ghost, which has received mixed reviews.

The Crown season 6 has dramatized the death of Princess Diana and the royal family’s response to the tragedy, but how accurate is Queen Elizabeth’s speech? One of Netflix’s most popular original shows, The Crown has chronicled the reign of Queen Elizabeth II from her wedding in 1947 through to the early 21st century. The sixth and final season of The Crown is being released in two volumes. The first volume kicks off in 1997 and focuses primarily on the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

While its production value has been consistently praised, The Crown season 6 has received mixed reviews for devolving into soap opera territory. The scenes featuring Diana’s ghost appearing to her loved ones have sparked some controversy for their disrespectful portrayal of a real person’s death. The Crown often takes artistic liberties with the historical events it dramatizes, with the appearance of Diana’s ghost being a prime example. But how accurate is the Queen’s speech following Diana’s untimely passing?

How Accurate The Crown Season 6 Is To The True Story Of Princess Diana's Death

Queen elizabeth's address on diana's death is recreated verbatim in the crown season 6.

The last episode of the first volume of The Crown ’s final season – season 6, episode 4, “Aftermath” – begins with Diana dying as a result of a car crash. The episode shows Charles breaking the news to William and Harry, Mohamed returning Diana’s personal effects to the royal family, and Elizabeth agreeing to give Diana a ceremonial funeral. The final scene depicts Philip, Charles, William, Harry, and Diana’s brother Earl Spencer all walking behind the funeral procession before the Queen delivers a televised address about Diana’s passing.

Rather than rewriting the speech or changing the wording of it, screenwriter Peter Morgan copied it word for word into the teleplay.

Queen Elizabeth’s speech about Diana’s death in The Crown season 6 is 100% accurate to the real-life address. Rather than rewriting the speech or changing the wording of it, screenwriter Peter Morgan copied it word for word into the teleplay. Imelda Staunton delivers the address the same way the Queen did in real life. The speech can be read in full on the official Royal website .

Why The Crown Season 6 Makes The Lighting So Different From The Queen's Real Speech

If there’s one aspect of Netflix originals that rarely receives praise, it’s cinematography. Netflix’s movies and TV shows are lit and shot for viewing on TV screens and smartphones, so they’re not very cinematic. The weird look of the Queen’s speech in The Crown season 6 has become a pretty controversial part of Netflix’s lighting strategies. The speech is depicted in The Crown as being underlit on the Queen herself while the background is pretty overexposed, and leaves Elizabeth being underfocused. It’s an odd choice considering Elizabeth is perfectly in-focus and lit well in the real-life footage they’re supposed to be recreating.

Source: Royal website

Expert investigation reveals the truth about Princess Diana's death 25 years ago

Groundbreaking new documentary examines her final years and what really led to the accident in paris.

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Two and a half decades after her tragic death, the late Princess Diana continues to make international headlines. Many questions remain about her final years, what happened the night she died and who may be responsible for the accident. 

In Diana: The Ultimate Truth , former detective and award-winning investigative journalist Mark Williams-Thomas examines theories that have emerged since Diana's passing and sets out to answer the key questions that continue to swirl around the late princess of Wales.

What impact did Diana's revealing BBC interview have on the final years of her life? Could she have potentially survived her injuries from the crash? Was driver Henri Paul under the influence of alcohol that night? And had her car really been tampered with?

The interview that changed everything  

In November 1995, two years before her death, Princess Diana agreed to a television interview with Martin Bashir from Panorama , the BBC's flagship current affairs program. The revealing segment made headlines around the world after Diana exposed her and Prince Charles's extramarital affairs. 

As a result, the Queen urged Diana and Charles — who had been separated since 1992 — to divorce, and Diana was stripped of the title of Her Royal Highness. Her royal security was also removed.

• New documentary Historians believe the Duke of Windsor actively collaborated with the Nazis during the Second World War

How did Bashir, a relatively unknown BBC journalist, win this extraordinary interview and, crucially, Diana's trust?   

A graphic designer working for BBC later disclosed that Bashir had asked him to forge bank statements that showed a former employee of Earl Spencer, Diana's brother, had sold stories to a U.K. national newspaper. Bashir then showed the falsified statements to Earl Spencer to gain his confidence; Spencer then introduced Bashir to Diana. 

In Diana: The Ultimate Truth , Williams-Thomas speaks with Tom Mangold, a long-time Panorama reporter who caught on to the deception and raised his concerns within the BBC. "A friend of mine on the program … came to me and said, 'Our graphics artist, Matt Wiessler, has told me that Martin ordered him to forge two bank statements,'" says Mangold. "And they were used to get the interview with Princess Diana." He took his concerns to the program editor but was ignored. 

The interview that changed everything | Diana: The Ultimate Truth

Five months after the interview aired, the Mail on Sunday newspaper revealed what Mangold knew to be true, but by then the damage of what Diana divulged was done. 

Williams-Thomas also meets with Diana's close friend Simone Simmons, who described Diana's conversations with Bashir prior to filming the interview. "[Bashir] was talking about … did she realize, you know, she is surrounded by people who are betraying her?" says Simmons in the documentary. 

"She said to me, 'I didn't know how many enemies I had.'" 

'I am going to [die] in an accident — helicopter, plane or car crash'

During his investigation, Williams-Thomas meets with other close friends and associates of Princess Diana, who describe a kind, strong-minded and thoughtful person. They also reveal Diana's inner concerns in her final years. 

Speaking publicly for the first time, security expert Grahame Harding explains how Diana feared her calls were being recorded and hired him to inspect her rooms at Kensington Palace for bugs. He also supplied mobile phones to Diana in secret to help her to avoid any potential surveillance.

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Concerns about being spied on were not Diana's only fear. Her close friend Roberto Devorik says that Diana always believed she was going to die young. 

"She had the premonition she would be killed or die … not in a natural way," says Devorik in the documentary. "She would say, 'I think they are going to kill me. I am going to finish in an accident — helicopter, plane or car crash.'"

‘I am going to [die] in an accident — helicopter, plane or car crash’ | Diana: The Ultimate Truth

Diana may have had a chance of surviving that night  

In the documentary, Williams-Thomas retraces Diana's steps in Paris, where Diana spent her final days with filmmaker Dodi Fayed in August 1997, and tracks down crash witnesses who have never spoken publicly. He also travels to the U.K. to meet an expert who prepared a report for the official British inquest into Diana's death. 

Tom Treasure, a cardiothoracic surgeon, reviews the details of the crash. "[Diana] was taken from the car, and she was conscious when they took her out," he says. "Her circulation was in trouble, fast pulse and low blood pressure, indicating internal bleeding." 

Treasure then explains the heart injury that Diana sustained from sitting sideways without a seatbelt when the car came to an abrupt stop. He reveals that had the circumstances been different that night, allowing her rare heart injury to be identified earlier, she may have had a chance. 

"It was survivable," Treasure says in the film.  

Was the driver to blame?

In 2008, the British inquest concluded that the accident was caused by the grossly negligent driving of chauffeur Henri Paul and the group of paparazzi photographers who were following the car.

French police stated that Paul was under the influence of alcohol when he took to the wheel that night. But when Williams-Thomas tracks down his close friend Claude Garrec, he insists that Paul was a responsible person who would not have put people's lives at risk. 

"So, for me, something happened that we don't know. But Henri, in my opinion, has nothing to do with this case," Garrec says.

While in Paris, Williams-Thomas also questions Martine Monteil, the police officer who led the French investigation into the crash, and reviews the forensic evidence. She confirms that the Mercedes had collided with another vehicle moments before entering the Pont de l'Alma tunnel, causing it to swerve, hit a curb and spin into the 13th pillar. 

As for the widespread public theories that Paul's blood samples could have been inaccurate or switched — is there any truth to these claims? 

"Blood samples were taken immediately at the time of the accident and also during the autopsy," says Monteil, who reveals that those samples indicated Paul indeed had alcohol, as well as antidepressants, in his system. "He wasn't drunk, that's for sure, but he had consumed alcohol." 

• Previously unheard tape from BBC Archives reveals Duke of Windsor wanted Britain to appease Hitler

Was the car tampered with?

Following the French investigation, the Metropolitan police in England launched their own inquiry into Diana's death. They commissioned three forensic and traffic collision experts to examine every element of the crash and determine if anything had been tampered with on Diana and Fayed's vehicle. These experts come together for the first time on television in Diana: The Ultimate Truth .  

"Because of all the tampering allegations, I wanted the Met police to buy or borrow an identical car," says David Price, a forensic accident investigator who went on to compare Diana's crashed vehicle with a second Mercedes to determine any differences. 

"I was going from one to the other, checking out all the underside to look for any signs that anything had been attached to it or any signs that there had been a small explosion to disable something."

The findings of the forensic team, along with all the other evidence gathered, may finally answer the remaining questions surrounding Diana's death. 

Watch Diana: The Ultimate Truth .

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Queen Elizabeth II, in her own words: Her most memorable remarks

LONDON — Speeches from Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who died on Thursday, punctuated key moments of her 70 years on the throne — giving insights into her family, faith and sense of duty.

Her remarks provide snapshots of what was going on in her personal life and British public life. Here are some of the most memorable.

On her 21st birthday: April 21, 1947

Princess Elizabeth was on a tour of South Africa with her parents and younger sister Margaret when she turned 21 years old. In a speech broadcast on the radio from Cape Town, she dedicated her life to the service of the Commonwealth, in one of her earliest public addresses.

“This is a happy day for me; but it is also one that brings serious thoughts, thoughts of life looming ahead with all its challenges and with all its opportunity,” the young Elizabeth said.

Still a princess, she went on to make a profound royal pledge: “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.”

On her Coronation Day: June 2, 1953

The queen ascended to the throne on Feb. 6, 1952, after the death of her father, King George VI, but her coronation took place in 1953, when she was 27. Her husband, Philip, had urged that the event be televised for the first time, and millions in the United Kingdom and abroad watched the broadcast by the BBC from London’s Westminster Abbey.

Following the event that placed the royal family firmly in people’s living rooms, Elizabeth, in a broadcast to the nation that evening, reflected on the day’s momentous events.

“Although my experience is so short and my task so new, I have in my parents and grandparents an example which I can follow with certainty and with confidence,” she said. “As this day draws to its close, I know that my abiding memory of it will be, not only the solemnity and beauty of the ceremony, but the inspiration of your loyalty and affection. I thank you all from a full heart.”

‘Annus Horribilis’: Nov. 24, 1992

In 1992, the queen gave a speech in London to mark the 40th anniversary of her accession to the throne, wherein she famously defined the year in Latin as an “annus horribilis” — or a horrible year.

She remarked: “1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure. In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an ‘Annus Horribilis.’ I suspect that I am not alone in thinking it so.”

Her speech came days after a major fire at Windsor Castle, a royal residence, and after three of her children’s marriages, including that of Prince Charles and Diana, collapsed, generating reams of tabloid headlines that cast a critical spotlight on British royal life.

Maintaining a quintessential British stiff upper lip, the monarch welcomed scrutiny of her role. “Criticism is good for people and institutions that are part of public life,” she said. “No institution — city, monarchy, whatever — should expect to be free from the scrutiny of those who give it their loyalty and support, not to mention those who don’t.”

She added, “But we are all part of the same fabric of our national society, and that scrutiny, by one part of another, can be just as effective if it is made with a touch of gentleness, good humor and understanding.”

She did not repeat the Latin phrase again publicly, but some royal pundits speculated that she may have been tempted to do so in 2019, after her husband was involved in a public car crash, her grandsons Princes William and Harry publicly fell out, and her second son Prince Andrew became entangled in links to the disgraced American financier Jeffrey Epstein.

On the death of Princess Diana: Sept. 5, 1997

After the death of Princess Diana in a car crash in Paris shook the world, the queen spoke to the nation live from Buckingham Palace.

“Since last Sunday’s dreadful news we have seen, throughout Britain and around the world, an overwhelming expression of sadness at Diana’s death. We have all been trying in our different ways to cope,” she said.

“I want to pay tribute to Diana myself. She was an exceptional and gifted human being. In good times and bad, she never lost her capacity to smile and laugh, nor to inspire others with her warmth and kindness. I admired and respected her — for her energy and commitment to others, and especially for her devotion to her two boys,” the queen said in an effort to comfort a stunned nation after facing media criticism for being slow to publicly react.

“No one who knew Diana will ever forget her. Millions of others who never met her, but felt they knew her, will remember her. I for one believe there are lessons to be drawn from her life and from the extraordinary and moving reaction to her death,” she said.

Diana died at 36 and left behind two young princes, who have both since spoken about how her death affected the way they shape their royal roles and public life.

On the death of Prince Philip: April 9, 2021

Buckingham Palace announced the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, on April 9, 2021.

“It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen announces the death of her beloved husband,” the palace statement said . Philip died at Windsor Castle, and his funeral days later and during the coronavirus pandemic was televised globally. The event yielded moving images of the elderly queen, now a widow, starkly sitting alone in keeping with pandemic restrictions.

Elizabeth, whom Philip affectionately called Lilibet, had spoken of him in 1997 when the couple celebrated their golden wedding anniversary, calling him her “strength and stay.”

At the time, she recounted events over the 50 years of their marriage, including the end of the Cold War, the Beatles, humans traveling to the moon, the introduction of television, mobile phones and the internet, and England’s winning the soccer World Cup, as well as “the joys of having children and grandchildren” together.

“All too often, I fear, Prince Philip has had to listen to me speaking. Frequently we have discussed my intended speech beforehand and, as you will imagine, his views have been expressed in a forthright manner. He is someone who doesn’t take easily to compliments, but he has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years, and I, and his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim, or we shall ever know.”

After her husband’s death, she did not directly address the nation, but a phrase resurfaced that the queen had previously sent in a message to the United States following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks: “Grief is the price we pay for love,” she said.

Annual Christmas speeches

The queen gave thousands of speeches at royal engagements to heads of state and diplomats, when inaugurating buildings and boats, and annually at Christmas. The latter grew to become a social staple and British holiday tradition, as her yuletide speeches were peppered with words of wisdom, faith and occasionally personal reflections from the nonagenarian.

“In the old days, the monarch led his soldiers on the battlefield, and his leadership at all times was close and personal. Today things are very different,” she said in her first televised Christmas broadcast in 1957. “I cannot lead you into battle, I do not give you laws or administer justice, but I can do something else. I can give you my heart and my devotion to these old islands and to all the peoples of our brotherhood of nations.”

In 1974, her Christmas message alluded to violence in Northern Ireland and in the Middle East, and she encouraged people globally to seek the path of peace and reconciliation. “We may hold different points of view, but it is in times of stress and difficulty that we most need to remember that we have much more in common than there is dividing us,” she said .

In 2002, despite celebrating 50 years on the throne during her Golden Jubilee, she also mourned the death of her mother and sister within a few weeks of each other. In her Christmas message that year, she reflected on the need for humanity amid crisis.

“Our modern world places such heavy demands on our time and attention that the need to remember our responsibilities to others is greater than ever,” she said .

And finally, perhaps for many, a quip that the queen made to her aides, as reported by her royal biographer, may be her most charming comment. “I have to be seen to be believed,” she joked.

Celebration of her Platinum Jubilee: Feb. 6, 2022

In February, the queen reached a historic milestone: becoming the first British monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee, marking 70 years of her reign. The United Kingdom celebrated during a four-day holiday in June with pomp and ceremony, street parties, musical concerts and military parades.

It was the last time the queen would publicly stand on the balcony at Buckingham Palace, alongside her family, waving to millions of people who had flocked to see her.

“I continue to be inspired by the goodwill shown to me,” she said, “and hope that the coming days will provide an opportunity to reflect on all that has been achieved during the last 70 years, as we look to the future with confidence and enthusiasm.”

Elizabeth previously celebrated her Silver Jubilee in 1977, Golden Jubilee in 2002 and Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

She died at her home in Balmoral Castle, Scotland, at 96.

How the Queen’s Princess Diana Tribute Speech From ‘The Crown’ Compares to the Real Thing

Watch the real speech that queen elizabeth ii gave a few days after diana's death.

Not every royal event on The Crown can be re-created perfectly, but occasionally there are circumstances where the script has already been written.

That was the case for the speech Queen Elizabeth begrudgingly gave after Diana's death in the fourth episode of The Crown Season 6. On the show, Her Majesty was very against the idea of publicly mourning her former daughter-in-law, who, after her divorce from Prince Charles, was no longer a public figure. But after seeing how young Prince William reacted to losing his mother, followed by a visit from Diana's ghost (who can say how accurate that part was), she returned to London to address the nation in a speech that was broadcast live.

The speech given on screen by Imelda Staunton was the exact same speech given by the real Queen Elizabeth II, and the real version is easily watchable.

You can see the real broadcast below:

The real version is very similar to the fictional version, but it also really hammers home the difference that a little background music makes. The Queen's demeanor definitely feels a little colder without the accompanying score.

While the show could mostly only speculate on the conversations that happened behind closed doors before the speech, then-Prime Minister Tony Blair has spoken about what went on and how the Queen felt.

"It was difficult, but here's the thing: She was trying to balance what she had to do as a queen and what she had to do as a grandmother," he told The Today Show in 2022 . "And she was acutely aware that she had two young, young children who had lost their mother in terrible circumstances, and who were grieving and who needed to be looked after."

The Crown continues with its final six episodes on Dec. 14 on Netflix.

How Did Queen Elizabeth II React to Princess Diana’s Death?

Season six of The Crown re-creates the events that followed Diana’s tragic accident

Tony Blair, who was prime minister of the U.K. at the time, called Diana the “people’s princess” while paying tribute in the days after her death, Smithsonian Magazine notes. The moniker stuck, and Diana has been known by it ever since. The queen, however, did not immediately comment on Diana’s passing, leaving the public to wonder how she really felt about the princess’s death. Here, we explore how Queen Elizabeth reacted to Princess Diana’s death.

How did the queen react when she found out Diana had died?

Princess Diana died after being in a car crash in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris on August 31, 1997. Although she survived the crash itself, Diana died from her injuries after being transported to Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, the Associated Press says. Understandably, the world eagerly awaited comment from the royal family, but Queen Elizabeth remained silent for several days after the tragedy.

When the queen failed to release a statement in the first days after Diana’s death, the general public grew angry, The Washington Post recalled. The monarch stayed out of sight at her Balmoral estate in Scotland, along with other members of the royal family, including Diana’s sons, princes William and Harry. According to the Post , the British subjects were particularly upset that Diana’s coffin was at St. James’s Palace in London while the royal family was elsewhere. But it seems the royals’ absence was for an important reason.

Later, Elizabeth would reveal she had been spending time with her grandsons in the wake of their mother’s sudden and untimely death. “This week at Balmoral, we have all been trying to help William and Harry come to terms with the devastating loss that they and the rest of us have suffered,” she said in a speech on September 5, five days after Diana’s death, the royal family’s website says.

In an interview with CNN in 2012, the queen’s first cousin Margaret Rhodes confirmed the monarch’s desire to remain at Balmoral, saying, “She was being a proper granny. What was the point of bringing the boys down to sit in London with nothing to do but sit there feeling sad about Mom?” The Crown’ s sixth season depicts Elizabeth’s desire to spend time with her grandsons at Balmoral, rather than returning to London too quickly. However, as the show also notes, the monarch’s strong sense of duty meant she did need to return to Buckingham Palace to pay tribute to Diana publicly.

What did the queen say about Princess Diana’s death?

In the wake of Diana’s death , the general public was eager to hear from Queen Elizabeth. The queen finally addressed the nation in her September 5 televised speech about the Princess of Wales. “First, I want to pay tribute to Diana myself,” she said. “She was an exceptional and gifted human being. In good times and bad, she never lost her capacity to smile and laugh, nor to inspire others with her warmth and kindness. I admired and respected her—for her energy and commitment to others, and especially for her devotion to her two boys.”

As well as promising to support Diana’s sons, the queen paid tribute to the princess’s memory and the impact Diana had on the world. “No one who knew Diana will ever forget her,” she said. “Millions of others who never met her, but felt they knew her, will remember her. I for one believe there are lessons to be drawn from her life and from the extraordinary and moving reaction to her death. I share in your determination to cherish her memory.”

In a September 2022 appearance on Today (via People ), former PM Blair discussed the queen’s reaction to Diana’s death, saying, “In the end, she understood, because always her duty came first.”

“She had to respond to this extraordinary outpouring of grief about Princess Diana … a sense that something had happened that shouldn't have happened, and that Diana had been taken from people who really did love her,” he said. According to Blair, the queen was well aware she needed to address the nation regarding Diana’s death, even though she didn’t do so immediately. “She sensed it, and then she responded,” he explained. “And when she responded, she responded perfectly.”

The queen’s emotional speech followed an unexpected appearance by the monarch at the gates of Buckingham Palace on September 5. Having returned from Balmoral with the rest of the royal family, Elizabeth was seen speaking to people who had gathered at the palace to pay tribute to the late princess. The queen also viewed the sprawling wreaths, flowers, and gifts laid out in front of Buckingham Palace in Diana’s memory, The Washington Post said.

What did the queen do at Diana’s funeral?

Any initial anger at Queen Elizabeth reportedly dissipated at Princess Diana’s funeral on September 6, 1997, at Westminster Abbey in London. Per The Washington Post , the monarch broke protocol at the funeral by bowing as Diana’s casket passed by. Typically, people bow to the queen, and not the other way around—meaning that her gesture was one of immense respect, and it did not go unnoticed.

The former Princess of Wales was subsequently buried on the grounds of her childhood home of Althorp, on an island in the middle of a lake, per the BBC .

Amy Mackelden is a freelance writer, editor, and disability activist. Her bylines include Harper's BAZAAR, Nicki Swift, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, ELLE, The Independent, Bustle, Healthline, and HelloGiggles. She co-edited The Emma Press Anthology of Illness , and previously spent all of her money on Kylie Cosmetics.

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