[Music]
on the eve of princess diana's funeral
the royal family is returning to london
hoping and perhaps to quell some of the
criticism of their actions since diana's
death
the queen's convoy arrived in london as
it swept up to buckingham palace
the limousine halted at the gates the
queen and prince philip got out
to take in the mass of floral tributes
the queen was actually extremely nervous
because she could feel the hostility
and actually she heard people say oh
well about time you've come you know you
they can hear an awful lot of things at
the crowd and say and then i think a
woman actually
gave her a bunch of flowers and said
would you like me to place it for you
home and said no mom it's for you
and that sort of broke the ice it was
that moment
and i think suddenly people saw her
instead of feeling all prickly and angry
they suddenly thought my goodness this
is this is a grandmother and she's got
to deal
with all this
queen elizabeth will speak publicly
today about the death of diana
princess of wales joining me from london
is npr's michael goldfarb to talk about
the extraordinary
move by the queen to speak to her
subjects any idea what she will say
today
it will be a very carefully crafted
speech because people will listen to it
with great interest
since last sunday's dreadful news we
have seen throughout britain and around
the world
an overwhelming expression of sadness of
diana's death
so what i say to you now as your queen
and as a grandmother
i say from my heart
[Music]
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 i hope that
tomorrow
we can all wherever we are join in
expressing our grief
at adana's loss and gratitude for her
all too short life
i thought she said everything she should
have said can't think of anything that
she left out until
i think it's completely
[Music]
and they're gathering now at the
entrance
this is an extraordinary uh view we're
seeing here we've never
as far as i'm aware seen the royal
family standing like this at the gates
of buckingham palace
[Music]
at the funeral the queen was very
dignified and she bowed
her head when diana's coffin went past
[Music]
and it was spectacularly
done
i for one believe there are lessons to
be drawn from her life
and from the extraordinary and moving
reaction to her death
it is a chance to show to the whole
world
the british nation united in grief and
[Music]
respect
[Music]
you