Normal British life comes to a standstill Saturday as the nation pays its last respects to Princess Diana, with a funeral at Westminster Abbey and burial at her family estate in Northamptonshire.
One of the principal purposes of the day is to allow hundreds of thousands of admirers to pay final tribute to the "people's princess," in ceremonies being televised worldwide.
To that end, Diana's coffin will be taken in a public procession through London, and from London to her family's ancestral home, Althorp Park, to the north.
Massive crowds were expected to throng the routes, and huge television screens were set up in Hyde Park and Regent's Park to show the ceremonies in an attempt to alleviate the roadside crush.
The initial procession, from Diana's home of Kensington Palace to Westminster Abbey, traverses some of the capital's most prominent streets. For the last part of the route, representatives of some of Diana's favorite charities will walk behind the coffin.
Westminster Abbey is relatively small for such a big occasion, and seating for the funeral itself will be restricted to 2,000 invited guests. The nation will observe a minute of silence after the service.
The coffin will then be taken in public procession along a winding route of nearly 80 miles from Westminster Abbey to the Spencer estate, where Diana's remains will be laid to rest on an island in a lake.
The family had planned to bury her with some 20 generations of Spencers at the family crypt in a corner of the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, in nearby Great Brington, but changed plans to try to prevent the tiny town from becoming overwhelmed with visitors.
The coffin was kept out of public view ahead of the funeral at the Chapel Royal at St. James's Palace. Thousands of people lined up through the week to write their names in books of condolence set up separately in the palace. More signed condolence books across the nation.
Funeral plans, made in delicate negotiations among the royal and Spencer families and the government, were designed to honor the woman who was mother to a future king while, at the same time, a step removed from the royal family as Prince Charles' ex-wife. Buckingham Palace promised her funeral would be "unique."
