wfn.org | WESTMINSTER ABBEY FUNERAL DETAILS

[Audrey Whitefield <a.whitefield@quest.org.uk>]

Sept. 4, 1997 
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon Jim Rosenthal, Director of Communications
Anglican Communion Office
London, England

ACC 1324 

WESTMINSTER ABBEY FUNERAL DETAILS:DIANA PRINCESS OF WALES

(ACNS, London)4 September 1997 A liturgy that expresses the finest of
Anglican tradition combined with "Diana's free spirit" has been formed
into a funeral service that will be remembered for generations to come.

The service will begin with the traditional sentences from the Book of
Common Prayer set to music by well known composers, William Croft,
one-time organist at Westminster Abbey.

The hymns for the service are:

I vow to thee my country        - which was sung at the Royal Wedding
The King of love                - (Dominus regit me)
Make me a channel of thy peace  - a paraphrase of the Prayer of St
Francis
Guide me O thou great Redeember - a traditional Welsh favourite

The BBC Singers will sing the 'Libera me' from the Verdi Requiem.

Elton John will sing a specially adapted version of Candle in the Wind.

Other music will include 'In Paradisum' from the Orthodox funeral
service in a setting by John Taverner.

Other music includes Thou knowest, Lord, by Henry Purcell

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd George L Carey, will lead
the prayers and pronounce the Blessing.  The Dean, the Very Revd Lesley
Carr, standing before the Catafalque, will say the following
commendation:

 DIANA, our companion in faith and sister in Christ, we entrust you to
God.
 Go forth from this world in the love of the Father, who created you;
 In the mercy of Jesus Christ, who died for you;
 In the power of the Holy Spirit, who strengthens you.
 At one with all the faithful, living and departed,
 may you rest in peace and rise in glory,
 where grief and misery are banished
 and light and joy evermore abide.  Amen.

Organ music includes:

* Pachelbel's Canon
* Elgar's Nimrod, variation 9

The Scripture reading for the service will be 1 Corinthians 13 and will
be read by the Prime Minister, Tony Blair.  Diana's brother, Earl
Spencer, will offer a tribute during the service.

The complete funeral service text should be posted on the Web pages of
the Abbey and Buckingham Palace (as posted previously).

by James M Rosenthal