Today is the 25th anniversary of the death of Diana, the Princess of Wales. She was 36, when she died after a car accident in a Paris tunnel.
Her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, was killed in the accident, as was the driver of their car, Henri Paul. The bodyguard in the car, Trevor Rees-Jones, was seriously injured.
Diana's funeral took place six days later, on September 6th of 1997.
Her good friend, Elton John, performed a song in her honor at the funeral. After her death, Mr. John's lyricist, Bernie Taupin, wrote new words to "Candle in the Wind." The original song, a tribute to Marilyn Monroe, first appeared on Mr. John's 1973 album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
In the 1997 version, which paid tribute to Diana, the opening lyric, for example--"Goodbye, Norma Jean"--was changed to "Goodbye, England's Rose."
Below is a video, from the television broadcast of the funeral, of Mr. John's moving performance of the song. The song begins approximately one minute after the start of the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o9rLDCfO6o
I had wondered, in the past, how Mr. John was able to learn, and remember, the new lyrics to the song, in such a short period of time.
In 2019, Mr. John recalled that he was indeed concerned that he might forget the new lyrics, while singing at the funeral--such as, the fear he might accidentally sing the phrase "Goodbye, Norma Jean." As a result, he said, there was this precaution: "It's the first time I had a teleprompter, a teleprompter down on my left-hand side..."
