New details emerged last night of the explosive row between the Duke of Edinburgh and Tony Blair’s spin doctors over Prince William and Prince Harry’s roles at their mother’s funeral.
The ‘anguished’ Duke reportedly told No 10 officials to ‘f*** off’ after it was suggested the princes should walk behind Diana’s coffin – and he was backed by the Queen.
The exchange came during a telephone conference call between Buckingham Palace, where Mr Blair’s team, including spin doctor Alastair Campbell, had met Royal aides, and Balmoral, where the Queen and Prince Philip were staying with William and Harry.
TRAUMATIC: William and Harry walk behind Diana’s coffin with Prince Philip, Prince Charles and Earl Spencer
The call, convened by the Lord Chamberlain Lord Airlie, came as the Blair government was accused of taking over the funeral plans.
The Duke lost his temper after pressure to get the young princes to walk behind the coffin and other ideas to ‘show the Royals cared’ about Diana were floated.
They included:
- Creating a ‘Pied Piper effect’, whereby barriers were removed to allow the public to surge behind the procession. It was rejected by police on safety grounds;
- Inviting Nelson Mandela and showbusiness stars;
- Erecting a giant TV screen in a Royal park.
The call was also witnessed by Mr Blair’s No 10 ‘gatekeeper’ Anji Hunter. She has spoken of it in a new BBC film about Diana’s funeral. Earlier this year she described her shock at Prince Philip’s deep emotion in the call in which it was suggested the princes should follow the cortege. ‘I can remember – it sends a tingle up my back. We were all talking about how William and Harry should be involved and suddenly came Prince Philip’s voice. We hadn’t heard from him before, but he was really anguished.
Alastair Campbell and Anji Hunter at Buckingham Palace before the funeral
‘ “It’s about the boys,” he cried, “They’ve lost their mother.” I thought, “My God, there’s a bit of suffering going on up there.” ’
Ms Hunter’s husband, Sky TV political commentator Adam Boulton, has provided an even more vivid account of the phone conversation – and the Duke’s fury. Mr Boulton says Philip swore when ‘Downing Street spinners kicked around what roles Harry and William should play in the funeral’.
Highly respected Boulton says in his book, Tony’s Ten Years: ‘The Queen relished the moment when Philip bellowed over the speakerphone from Balmoral, “F*** off. We are talking about two boys who have just lost their mother.”’
Asked last week about the Duke’s four-letter outburst, Mr Boulton said: ‘He was trying to remind everyone that human feelings were involved. No 10 were trying to help the Royals present things in the best way, but may have seemed insensitive. The princes were uneasy about walking behind the coffin, but No 10’s advice that the Royals had to be seen mourning in public was right.’
Mr Boulton says the Queen, who did not take part in the call, made it clear later that she supported her husband’s emotional response.
Prince William, Earl Spencer, Prince Harry and Prince Charles follow the coffin of Diana, Princess of Wales, into Westminster Abbey
The Duke is known for his risqué jokes, but it is the first time he has been accused of using the F-word.
Mr Campbell also talks of the tension between Buckingham Palace and Downing Street over the funeral in the BBC film – Diana, 7 Days – to be broadcast this week.
In his version of the call in The Blair Years diaries, Campbell made no reference to swearing by the Duke. He claimed a reluctant William was persuaded to take part in the procession by Royal aides who convinced him it was ‘what his mother would have wanted’.
Campbell said there were fears Prince Charles could be lynched by an angry public if his sons did not walk alongside him. Boasting of his and Blair’s role in the funeral arrangements, Campbell said Blair’s ‘People’s Princess’ tribute to Diana ‘caught the public mood of mourning far better than the Royal Family’s traditional reserve’.
He added: ‘I got up the “People’s Funeral” line.’
Queen Elizabeth II and the Queen Mother outside Westminster Abbey
And after watching the crowds surge towards the funeral cortege, he wrote: ‘I couldn’t resist saying [to Blair]… “I did that.” ’
Campbell said Blair had been ‘clear and firm’ in his dealings with the Queen and had pleaded with her to show her ‘vulnerable side’ to win back public opinion.
Campbell said the Royals later thanked Blair’s team for helping them to manage the funeral and curb public hostility to their treatment of Diana – but concedes they had doubts too. The Royals ‘wondered whether calling her the “People’s Princess” didn’t fuel the public feeling’ – and the Queen felt ‘sorely treated’, he said.
The long-running dispute over who made the decision that the two princes should take part in the funeral walk is at the centre of the BBC film, which exams the outpouring of public grief in the aftermath of Diana’s death – and its effect on Britain. In it, William says: ‘It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, that walk. It felt she was almost walking along beside us to get us through it.’
Mourners line the M1 Motorway to pay their respects to Diana
Prince Harry remembers being comforted by weeping members of the public in the days after his mother died. ‘People’s hands were wet because of the tears they had just wiped away,’ he says. Harry has said in the past that he and his brother should never have been put through the ordeal of walking behind the coffin. And Diana’s brother Earl Spencer claimed last month that a Palace aide ‘lied’ to him about the princes’ wishes.
In the event, the Duke of Edinburgh’s rage subsided and at the last minute he helped win round William, who had wanted to grieve in private. Former Tory MP and writer Gyles Brandreth, a close friend of the Duke, has revealed how ‘Prince Philip, who had not planned to walk, said to William, “If I walk, will you walk with me?” ’
The call was also witnessed by Mr Blair’s No 10 ‘gatekeeper’ Anji Hunter. She has spoken of it in a new BBC film about Diana’s funeral
Why IS The Crown so obsessed with Prince Philanderer? Fury as Philip is ‘vilified’ to create drama for Netflix show
By Chris Hastings Arts Correspondent
Historians and Royal watchers reacted with anger last night after it was revealed that the new series of The Crown will resurrect rumours of Prince Philip’s supposed philandering.
Explosive scenes from the Netflix show portray a marriage rocked in its early years by betrayal and unfounded tales of the Duke of Edinburgh’s adultery.
‘I have learned more about humiliation in the past few weeks than I hoped I would in a lifetime,’ is the cry of the Queen – played by Claire Foy – who glowers with dagger-eyed jealousy at a beautiful ballet dancer. In despair, the Queen turns to Lord Mountbatten, played by Greg Wise, who cautions her: ‘You married a wild spirit – trying to tame him is no use.’
Greg Wise, who plays Lord Mountbatten, counsels the Queen: ‘You married a wild spirit – trying to tame him is no use’
Even when Philip attempts to assure her by saying, ‘There are some of us who are there for you no matter what’, the young Queen’s disbelieving reply is: ‘If only.’ She is also heard later lamenting: ‘The rumours still haven’t gone away.’
Such moments draw upon unsubstantiated gossip that dogged Philip long ago and are to be broadcast as the 96-year-old begins to enjoy his retirement.
Royal biographer Hugo Vickers said it was ‘shocking’ that Philip was being vilified for the sake of dramatic tension in the second series, to be shown from December. He said: ‘It’s extremely unfair that they should choose to make Prince Philip the villain of the piece when he has been supporting the Queen and serving this country for all these years. In November they will have been married for 70 years.’
Mr Vickers said while he was sure the Prince would ignore the drama, there was a danger some viewers would mistake the storyline for historical fact.
A young Queen Elizabeth, played by Claire Foy, looks distressed as she laments: ‘The rumours still haven’t gone away’
He said: ‘Intelligent people know this is just a drama but my worry is that the general public, younger viewers and particularly audiences in America will take it all to be true. Of course Prince Philip is never going to respond. He will treat it with the contempt he always does.’
Historian Philip Ziegler said any storyline which implied the Prince had been unfaithful was reliant on unsubstantiated rumours. He said: ‘I think they are making bricks with very thin straw. The rumours and speculation about Prince Philip have been circulating for decades but there is not a jot of evidence to back them up.’
The new series of The Crown, which stars Matt Smith as Philip, picks up where the last series left off and looks at the Queen’s reign in the 1960s. It will explore Princess Margaret’s relationship with society photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones, who later became her husband Earl Snowdon, and the Profumo sex scandal, which contributed to the fall of Harold Macmillan’s Conservative Government. Artist Stephen Ward, who was at the centre of the scandal, was a social acquaintance of Prince Philip.
ROVING EYE: Philip is shown ogling a waitress in the first series
But despite being spoilt for choice with storylines, the drama is going to paint Philip as a playboy Prince with a wandering eye – evidenced by the newly released trailer for the show.
Rumours about the Prince’s private life have circulated ever since he became a public figure. In the 1940s he reportedly dined with the late actress and singer Pat Kirkwood while the then Princess Elizabeth was pregnant with Prince Charles. Kirkwood is said to have exchanged letters with the Prince but she always denied claims of an affair.
The Prince’s subsequent friendships with women including the Duchess of Abercorn, the actress Anna Massey, and Penny Romsey – his former carriage riding partner – have also fuelled speculation.
The Queen is seen glowering at a beautiful dancer, above, and says: ‘I have learned more about humiliation in the past few weeks than I hoped I would learn in a lifetime’
In the last series of The Crown, the drama claimed Philip became jealous of the Queen’s friendship with Lord Porchester, or Porchie as he was known to those close to him. But this time it is the Queen who is fearful for the future of her marriage.
Royal biographer Margaret Holder said while the affairs may be unproven, it was clear that the Prince was unhappy in the early years of the marriage.
She said: ‘There were some strains in the marriage and Prince Philip was sidelined by the Court and this affected him as a man.’
Peter Morgan, the creator of The Crown, declined to comment on the storylines last night.