Diana's Brother Says He Was Lied To: Who Made William and Harry Walk Behind Her Coffin?

On September 6, 1997, Prince William and Prince Harry walked behind their mother's coffin through the streets of London. William was 15. Harry was 12. Their uncle, Charles Spencer, walked beside them, and he has said for years that he was lied to about whether the boys wanted to do it. This Princess Diana funeral documentary follows the week between Paris and Westminster Abbey and asks one question: who made William and Harry walk behind Diana's coffin? You will hear four versions. Harry's. William's. Their uncle's. And a fourth one, written down that same week by a man inside Downing Street. In this file: the phone call between Earl Spencer and the Prince of Wales. The Thursday conference call. The press secretary sent to Balmoral to persuade a fifteen-year-old. What Prince Philip said at dinner the night before. The eulogy delivered in front of the Queen, and what the man who delivered it was carrying in Cape Town. The offer made on the Royal Train. The note Diana's lawyer wrote in 1995 and the safe it sat in until 2003. And Charles Spencer's 2026 book, the sentence he says the future King spoke, and Buckingham Palace's answer. Every claim is told with its source. Where accounts disagree, you hear both. Alastair Campbell's diary and the Mishcon note are shown as paraphrase set in type, not as images of the documents. The claims in Charles Spencer's book are his account; Buckingham Palace has disputed it, and Piers Morgan has said he is taking legal action over a separate passage for which Earl Spencer apologised. Operation Paget (2006) found every allegation of conspiracy over Diana's death to be without foundation, and the 2008 inquest returned a verdict of unlawful killing through grossly negligent driving. EXHIBITS A · Alastair Campbell, diary entry for September 4, 1997, published in "The Alastair Campbell Diaries, Volume Two: Power and the People" (2011) B · The Mishcon note, October 30, 1995, as set out in the Operation Paget report (Metropolitan Police, December 2006) MAIN SOURCES The Alastair Campbell Diaries, Volume Two (2011); extracts in The Guardian and BBC News (January 2011) Prince Harry, "Spare" (2023); CBS "60 Minutes" (January 2023); Newsweek (June 2017) Prince William and Prince Harry in "Diana, 7 Days" (BBC, 2017) Charles Spencer on BBC Radio 4 "Today" (July 2017) and BBC News (September 2026) The Operation Paget inquiry report (2006); coroner's inquests, London (2008) ITV News and BBC News (September 2026) BBC1 live coverage of the funeral (September 6, 1997) Subscribe and open the next file:    / @thesealedpapers   IMAGE & FILM CREDITS Television and news footage used for commentary and criticism (fair use): BBC1 live coverage of the funeral (September 6, 1997) and the Queen's broadcast (September 5, 1997); BBC News (2017, 2026); ITN (August and September 1997); ITV News (2026); AP Archive (Paris, London, Balmoral, Cape Town and Althorp, 1997); Kinolibrary (London, September 1997); CBS "60 Minutes" (2023); the Operation Paget press conference (December 14, 2006); a 1994 television interview with the Prince of Wales; drone footage of Althorp by JMPS Media. Photographs: Wikimedia Commons (public domain and Creative Commons licences; the licence is shown on screen with each image) and White House photographs (public domain). Maps: Natural Earth (public domain). Music: Mixkit (Mixkit License).