FUNERAL OF DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES
ORDER OF SERVICE
at
WESTMINSTER ABBEY

Saturday 6 September 1997, 11.00 a.m.

The funeral service of Diana, Princess of Wales reflected the life and times of the Princess, combining both traditional and modern elements in a service which lasted about one hour.

As the cortège made its way from Kensington Palace to the Abbey, the Tenor Bell rang every minute. Organ music before the service included pieces by Mendelssohn, Bach, Dvorak, Vaughan Williams and Elgar.

After the cortège entered the Abbey through the Great West Door, the congregation sang the National Anthem.

As the cortège moved to the Sacrarium, the Choir sang the Sentences:
I am the Resurrection and the life, saith the Lord; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
(St John 11: 25-26)

I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.
(Job 19: 25-27)

We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.
(1 Timothy 6: 7; Job 1: 21)

Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts; shut not thy merciful ears unto our prayer; but spare us, Lord most holy, O God most mighty, O holy and most merciful Saviour, thou most worthy Judge eternal, suffer us not, at our last hour, for any pains of death, to fall from thee. Amen.
(Book of Common Prayer)

I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write, From henceforth blessed are the dead which die in the Lord; even so saith the Spirit; for they rest from their labours.
(Revelations 14: 13)

The Princess's coffin was then placed on a catafalque; The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh, and The Prince of Wales with Princes William and Harry, laid wreaths at the foot of the catafalque.

The congregation remained standing as the Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr Wesley Carr, said The Bidding:
We are gathered here in Westminster Abbey to give thanks for the life of Diana, Princess of Wales; to commend her soul to almighty God, and to seek his comfort for all who mourn. We particularly pray for God's restoring peace and loving presence with her children, the Princes William and Harry, and for all her family.

In her life, Diana profoundly influenced this nation and the world. Although a princess, she was someone for whom, from afar, we dared to feel affection, and by whom we were all intrigued. She kept company with kings and queens, with princes and presidents, but we especially remember her humane concerns and how she met individuals and made them feel significant. In her death she commands the sympathy of millions.

Whatever our beliefs and faith, let us with thanksgiving remember her life and enjoyment of it; let us rededicate to God the work of those many charities that she supported; let us commit ourselves anew to caring for others; and let us offer to him and for his service our own mortality and vulnerability.

The congregation then sang the hymn: 
I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above, 
entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love: 
the love that asks no question, the love that stands the test, 
that lays upon the altar the dearest and the best; 
the love that never falters, the love that pays the price, 
the love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.
 
And there's another country, I've heard of long ago, 
most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know; 
we may not count her armies, we may not see her King; 
her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering; 
and soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase, 
and her ways are ways of gentleness and all her paths are peace.

The first reading was by the Princess's eldest sister, Lady Sarah McCorquodale: 
If I should die and leave you here awhile, 
Be not like others, sore undone, who keep 
Long vigils by the silent dust, and weep. 
For my sake - turn again to life and smile, 
Nerving thy heart and trembling hand to do 
Something to comfort other hearts than thine. 
Complete those dear unfinished tasks of mine 
And I, perchance, may therein comfort you.

After the reading, the BBC Singers, together with the soprano Lynne Dawson, sang extracts from Verdi's Requiem: 
Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna, in die illa
tremenda quando coeli movendi sunt, et terra:
dum veneris judicare saeculum per ignem.
Tremens factus sum ego et timeo, dum
discussio venerit, atque ventura ira. Dies illa,
dies irae, calamitatis et miseriae, dies magna et
amara valde. Requiem aeternam dona eis
Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. 

(Deliver me, O Lord, from eternal death in that
dread day when the heavens and the earth shall
be shaken, and you will come to judge the
world by fire.  I tremble in awe of the judgement
and the coming wrath. Day of wrath, day of
calamity and woe,  great and exceeding bitter
day.  Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord, and
let perpetual light shine upon them.)

Lady Jane Fellowes read from the poem 'For Katrina's Sun Dial' by Henry van Dyke:
Time is too slow for those who wait,
Too swift for those who fear,
Too long for those who grieve,
Too short for those who rejoice,
But for those who love, time is eternity.

All then stood to sing the hymn: 
The King of love my Shepherd is, 
whose goodness faileth never; 
I nothing lack if I am his 
and he is mine for ever. 
Where streams of living water flow 
my ransomed soul he leadeth, 
and where the verdant pastures grow 
with food celestial feedeth. 
Perverse and foolish oft I strayed, 
but yet in love he sought me, 
and on his shoulder gently laid, 
and home rejoicing brought me. 
In death's dark vale I fear no ill 
with thee, dear Lord, beside me; 
thy rod and staff my comfort still, 
thy cross before to guide me. 
Thou spread'st a table in my sight; 
thy unction grace bestoweth; 
and O what transports of delight 
from thy pure chalice floweth! 
And so through all the length of days 
thy goodness faileth never: 
good Shepherd, may I sing thy praise 
within thy house for ever.

After this the Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Tony Blair, MP, read from 1 Corinthians 13: 
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing.  Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 

Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of  these is love.