Why Charles ‘made’ Prince William, Harry walk with Diana’s coffin: ‘He feared the public’

There is a real reason why Charles made his sons walk beside him and Charles Spencer breaks it down

The image of Prince William, then 15, and Prince Harry, just 12, walking behind Princess Diana’s coffin on September 6, 1997, remains one of the most agonizing moments in royal history. For decades, the decision was framed as a solemn, united display of duty and family mourning.

However, in bombshell serialized extracts from his memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, Diana’s younger brother, Charles Spencer, presents a starkly different motive behind that fateful arrangement.

According to Earl Spencer, Buckingham Palace did not insist on the young princes walking out of tradition—they used the grieving sons as an emotional shield because the then-Prince Charles feared public hostility.

Earl Spencer's Allegations: A Human Shield Against Insults

• Fear of Public Backlash: In the days following Diana's tragic death in Paris, public grief in Britain was raw, intense, and heavily critical of the royal establishment. Spencer writes that Charles was "adamant" he was going to walk in the cortege, but palace officials were terrified that "members of the public might shout abuse at him" as he walked through London streets.

• Guaranteeing Safe Passage: Spencer argues that palace planners calculated that surrounding Charles with Diana's mourning family—specifically her two young sons and her brother—would make jeering or verbal attacks impossible. As Spencer writes, placing Diana's sons front and center "would surely guarantee against insults flying."

• The Behind-the-Scenes Clash: Spencer revealed that he vehemently objected to putting William and Harry through the public ordeal, arguing that Diana would never have wanted her young sons subjected to such psychological torment. He alleges the disagreement led to an explosive phone call where Charles dismissed the enduring impact of Diana's loss.

Contrasting Perspectives on the Procession Decision

Dimension	Palace / Historical Account	Earl Spencer’s Revelation
Primary Motivation	A solemn act of filial duty and traditional royal mourning	Protecting Charles from angry crowds and public verbal abuse
Prince Philip’s Role	Grandfatherly support ("If I walk, will you walk?")	Palace-backed strategy to lock the family cortege together
The Princes' Wellbeing	Assumed to be part of shared national catharsis	Subjecting traumatized children to an ordeal for optics
Palace Reaction Today	Denies claims; attributes them to grief clouding memory	Stands by recollections as historical truth

The Enduring Toll on William and Harry

Spencer’s revelations directly align with reflections both princes have shared in recent years. Prince Harry has spoken candidly about the lifelong trauma of that walk, famously stating that no child should ever be asked to walk behind their mother’s coffin in front of thousands of onlookers and millions watching on television. Prince William has similarly described the march down The Mall as "one of the hardest things" he has ever done.

Buckingham Palace issued a rare response to Spencer's wider claims, cautioning that "fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment, and colour memory in ways others do not recognise."

Yet, by pulling back the curtain on the contentious negotiations behind Diana’s funeral, Earl Spencer has reopened a painful debate: whether royal duty was prioritized to comfort two grieving boys, or to protect the monarchy’s public standing at their expense.