Queen’s funeral procession sees Prince William and Harry relive one of their ‘hardest’ moments

The sight of the two princes walking close to one another behind a coffin through the streets of London was eerily similar to Diana’s funeral.

Prince William and Harry in 1997 at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales (left) and in 2022 (right) at the procession for the Queen.

As princes William and Harry walked behind the coffin of the Queen in London on Wednesday, it couldn’t help to bring to mind a heartbreaking scene 25 years ago when their mother died.

In effect, the two princes were reliving an eerily similar ceremony to that of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Prince William has said that walking behind his mother’s coffin was “one of the hardest things I’ve ever done”.

The procession through the streets of London took the body of the Elizabeth II from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall in the Palace of Westminster where it will remain until Monday’s funeral.

Stay up to date with the latest news on the British Royals with Flash. 25+ news channels in 1 place. New to Flash? Try 1 month free. Offer ends 31 October, 2022 >

Prince William, Prince of Wales, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Peter Phillips, walk behind the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, during a procession from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster, in London. (Photo by Richard Heathcote / POOL / AFP)

The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince William, Earl Spencer, Prince Harry and Prince Charles walking outside Westminster Abbey during the funeral service for Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997. Picture: AFP).

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to line up to pay their last respects to the monarch who died last week after 70 years on the throne.

Long planned in advance, the Queen’s funeral was known under the code name “Operation London Bridge”.

When Diana died there was no plan in place for a grand funeral because – by that point – she was divorced from Charles and no longer a working royal.

But an outpouring of grief led the royal family and Diana’s own Spencer family to hastily adapt Operation Tay Bridge, the ceremony plan for the Queen Mother’s death.

While it did differ here and there from London Bridge, the elements of that plan and Tay Bridge have much in common.

Prince William and Harry in 1997 at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales (left) and in 2022 (right) at the procession for the Queen.

That included the solemn procession, with close family members, walking behind the coffin.

In 1997, the two then boys were joined by their father Charles, the now late Duke of Edinburgh and the Earl Spencer, the younger brother of Diana.

All wore black suits and had their heads bowed for much of the procession.

On Wednesday, an almost identical scene unfolded albeit with different participants.

Prince William and Prince Harry were joined by the now King Charles III, Princess Anne and her son Peter, Price Edward and Prince Andrew.

The route traversed many of the same streets as Diana’s cortege including The Mall and Whitehall as well as passing Buckingham Palace.

The thousands of onlookers lining the route would have been familiar from 1997.

One of the major difference was the uniforms. Working royals Anne, William and Edward were in ceremonial military garb today; Harry and Andrew were not.

Tributes for Diana in 1997.

‘Hardest things I’ve ever done’

At Diana’s funeral, The Duke of Edinburgh was reportedly reluctant for his two grandsons to have to go through what could be a traumatic experience of publicly walking behind their mother’s coffin. But he relented, declaring“I’ll walk if you walk”.

Harry had said that walking behind the coffin, when he was just 12, was something no child “should be asked to do”.

But by 2017, in an interview with the BBC, his view had modified somewhere.

He said he didn’t “have an opinion whether it was right or wrong,” but in hindsight he was glad to have been part of the funeral ceremony.

Prince William had said walking during the procession was a “very long, lonely walk” and “one of the hardest things I’ve ever done”.

He added that his floppy teenage hair helped him block out much of the intense scenes around him.

“I felt if I looked at the floor and my hair came down over my face, no-one could see me.

“It wasn’t an easy decision and it was a sort of collective family decision to do that … there is that balance between duty and family and that’s what we had to do.”