Princess Diana’s death: How the royals and Tony Blair fared in the aftermath of the crash

In the days after her death in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997, the spotlight was shone on the Royal Family and Prime Minister Tony Blair. 

Mr Blair’s popularity surged in the aftermath of Diana’s death as many thought he had caught the public mood but the royals fared less well and faced public criticism.

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The world mourned when they discovered Diana, 36, had been killed, along with her lover Dodi Fayed, 42 and their chauffeur Henri Paul. 

But public shock and sadness turned into anger as the Queen was accused of not publicly mourning Princess Diana’s death and the family spent the days following the princess’s death at the Queen’s estate in Balmoral, Scotland. 

Following Diana’s death, the Royal Family was subject to a barrage of public criticism for their perceived treatment of the Princess, who had struggled to fit into the monarchy and deal with the breakdown of her marriage to Prince Charles. 

Many thought the Queen had a harsh business-as-usual attitude in the wake of the tragedy. 

When Prince William and Prince Harry went to church with the Royal Family in the days after the crash, the public reacted with fury after it emerged no mention of Diana had been made. 

The Queen removed newspapers and radios from Balmoral in a bid to protect William and Harry, then 15 and 12, from the press. 

But in London public anger was growing amid calls for the Queen to lower the flag at Buckingham Palace to half-mast. 

In a further blow to the monarchy Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, described it as “cruel” to ask Prince Harry and Prince William to walk behind their mother’s coffin in front of thousands of mourners at her funeral, which was watched by billions. 

Prince William has since defended the Queen’s decision to keep the family at their remote Scottish castle in the aftermath of Diana’s death, claiming it gave them the “privacy to mourn”. 

Mr Blair was Prime Minister in 1997 when Diana was tragically killed in the car crash. 

He revealed the “extraordinary shock” he had after he discovered Diana had died. 

Mr Blair, 64, revealed the Queen was “obviously very sad” about Diana’s death, and concerned about the impact it would have on Prince William and Harry.

He said: “I mean she the Queen was obviously most worried I think about the impact on the boys.

“She was obviously very sad about Diana.”

The former Prime Minister said it was “very difficult to work out exactly what the Queen was thinking at this time”.

“She was concerned about the monarchy itself because the Queen has a very strong instinct about public opinion and how it plays.”

Mr Blair’s popularity rating reached 93 per cent in the wake of Princess Diana’s death, according to a Labour Party poll. 

The Prime Minister coined the phrase the “People’s Princess” when he delivered a speech to the nation following the shocking news. 

Many people saw it as the politician’s finest hour when he said: “She was the people’s princess and that’s how she will stay, how she will remain in our hearts and in our memories forever.”

He said the Royal Family’s lack of response to the Princess’s death was dangerous as there was such a huge outpouring of public grief at the time. 

Princess Diana’s butler Paul Burrell was asked to spearhead the Diana Memorial Fund, which was the charitable foundation set up in her name, after her death.

He has since flown around the world raising funds for all of the good causes she believed in and sparked controversy for his numerous interviews about Princess Diana.