Where were you when you heard princess Diana had died?

freshpopcorn

I was about 5 and I was starting school the next day. I have no really memory of it. My mother says she told my self, my siblings and my grandmother.
She found out off my father/the radio. She was collecting him and his brother from a pub about 60km away. She was waiting hours. He came out of the pub and told her Diana Ross had died. She heard on the radio on the way home it was actually princess Diana.

Where were you when you heard princess Diana had died?

xzanti

In the scratcher.

Mech1

In bed listening to 088 mobile calls on the scanner!

Zebra3

Had just got out of bed to go and play ball. It was a Sunday morning.

The fuss over it all here in Ireland was utterly embarrassing. Blubbering fools going on and on about her as if she was some sort of saint.

The rise of grief junkies started that day.

Bunny Colvin

At a hotel in Dublin, getting ready for Mayo and Offaly in the '97 All Ireland Semi Final. Can remember it like it was yesterday!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I've honestly no idea. I've tried to recall but it's just too long ago.

GBX

Just came home from Aslan midnight at the Olympia.

Erik Shin

Sat on my couch after a barrel load of Guinness, genuinely saddened at the time

freshpopcorn

Reign Thoughtless Runner wrote: »

I've honestly no idea. I've tried to recall but it's just too long ago.

Hopefully there isn't a survey on it!

Bunny Colvin

Mech1 wrote: »

In bed listening to 088 mobile calls on the scanner!

You could listen to random mobile phone calls back then? What was that like?!

roroliam

On a scooter coming out of a tunnel in Paris

gingernut79

Came in after 4 from the nightclub and heard it on the radio, used to listen to bbc radio 1 all the time, they were only reporting she was hurt, I didn't know she had died till I woke up and the station was basically off the air with sombre music and occasional announcements.

gramar

On the couch about lunchtime on a Sunday. There was a news flash to announce it. I don't know why I remember as I wasn't really affected by it.

Mech1

Bunny Colvin wrote: »

You could listen to random mobile phone calls back then? What was that like?!

Interesting / funny / sad

All local people some wierd **** goes on.

Uriel.

Sitting on the sitting room floor flicking channels when I saw it on sky news.
Ran upstairs to tell my mam who was (and still is) obsessed with Princess Diana. She didn't believe me.

But when she came down to see she was devastated. It was almost like a family member died.

Fratton Fred

making a dirty great big fry up after a load of ale the night before.

It was a weird day in the UK, Capital Radio just played sad music all day long.

Rubberlegs

I had slept over at my parents house and my mother came in to tell me that morning. It was shocking enough at the time I suppose, but can't understand it being in the news so much all these years later.

hairyslug

I would have been in my late teens, I think I was on a couch, watching a early morning football show on Sky Sports and they recommended that we turn over to a news channel.

SEPT 23 1989

Coming down off something or other

Mint Sauce

At mass. Not really paying attention, but woke up when the priest offered a prayer for the Royal Family.

retro:electro

I was 9 and sharing a bed with my older sister. My mam came in the room to wake my sister and tell her and when she said "they think Diana is dead" in my sleepy hazy state I thought she said "they think that Anna is dead".
I was like no mam I'm still alive!!!

Galwayguy35

Watching Sky News on the box when the news broke that she was dead.

Twas a fast 20 years.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

I was 8 I think. Was a Sunday morning, my mam woke me to tell me. I remember telling her I didn't care. There was a football semi final or final or something on that day and school started the next day.

Arghus

In bed.

luketitz

I neither recall, nor care. Not exactly one of them 'seminal moments' in the life of the average thirty-something Irishman, i would posit!

eviltwin

We'd been at a house party. It was our first night out since our daughter had been born in June and we got locked. In the taxi home the driver told us there had been a car accident in Paris, Dodi was dead and Diana was seriously injured. I thought he was taking the piss out of us because we'd been drinking but when we got back we put on Sky news and watched for a bit before we went to bed.

The next morning I woke up with a banging hangover, himself went down to get coffee, I heard him go down stairs and then seconds later run back up to say Diana had died. I couldn't believe it, I think we spent that entire weekend watching the coverage of her body being returned to the UK and then the week up to her funeral watching and feeling a sense of shock.

I've tried to explain to my daughter just how famous Diana was. In a world before the internet where the only place to get information on celebrities was newspapers, tv and magazines Diana was everywhere. Think Kim Kardashian times 1000. Her death was shocking and I felt so sorry for her two sons especially seeing them walk behind her coffin at her funeral.

Teyla Emmagan

In Sydney. Buying drink in the offie, to be exact. The news was on the radio.

jluv

Was living in NY at the time and had just finished a shift as a waitress. Used to listen to a radio station notorious for playing pranks. Announced the death of Diana and thought "ah lads this is taking it too far" . When I realised it was true I went home and stayed up half the night watching news reports..

alchemist33

My cousins were bunking on my living room floor, being up in Dublin for (I think) a U2 concert. When I came down for breakfast in the morning they had the TV on and told me. It seemed a bit unbelievable for a time.

dreamers75

Getting ready to leave for my 1st Old Firm Derby................




It was called off.

screamer

On a game farm in south Africa drinking coffee and watching the sunrise over the reserve.

miamee

Was working in a hotel in Germany for the summer holidays with a friend and another Irish lad. The Chefin told us when we were having our breakfast. With the slight language barrier we assumed she was getting it wrong when she insisted that "Lady Diana ist tot". She told us to go up to the TV room to watch the news (the one and only time we were allowed up) and we got away with starting work late. Watched a bit of Sky News that morning and later that evening, we missed the rest of the hoohaa after hat as we worked very long hours and were more interested in going down the mountain to the local pub on nights off than watching tv.

Jakey Rolling

Just arrived off a flight from LHR to Singapore.

It was bizarre watching from a distance as the mass hysteria unfolded across the UK. The lads I was working with were all as cynical as myself, so it was probably the best place to be. I get the impression that you wouldn't have been able to say a word against her in the immediate aftermath, without being rounded on.

AllGunsBlazing

Was plonked on the couch in front of the telly when Sky News broke the story of the accident itself. Watched for about an hour or so before telling both my parents, who were also watching, that she was dead and the British and French governments were stalling on how to break the news to the general public - and then made my way up to bed. Sure enough came down next morning and all was confirmed.


Truth be told that was a very strange summer in regards to Diana. It's no exaggeration to say she and her new boyfriend were on every tabloid front page for about a month leading up to her death. A feeding frenzy that hasn't yet been matched even in today's internet age.

Jambo

On a JJ Kavanagh bus returning to Waterford after seeing U2 Popmart Tour @ Landdowne Rd.
Still have the unused bomber jacket I bought at the concert that night.

Chester Copperpot

Woken up by my girlfriend at the time, as she burst into tears while telling me. I had nothing against Diana but I thought a lot less of the girlfriend for her overblown reaction. It went on for a few days. Was a bit shocked by her reaction and that was probably the death of that relationship.

It wasnt me123

On my way to a U2 concert in Dublin - from Tipperary and it was p*ssing out of the heavens. I was riding a Honda 125 and tried to put it on a train to Dublin - the station master told me she died - at that stage I couldn't give a sh*te I had enough going on myself. In retrospect, I still don't give a sh*te. Sad for her children but its always sad when someone dies if you are close to them.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

I was only 6 so I only recall being annoyed at how there were no cartoons on TV just some stupid funeral.

Burlap_Sack

Watching cartoons until the news broke. Ruined my Sunday morning. Selfish of her really.

brightspark

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

I was only 6 so I only recall being annoyed at how there were no cartoons on TV just some stupid funeral.

LOL

I got married around that time, my younger cousins were staying in my house and were looking forward to watching lots of TV as I had Cable TV (they didn't).

They were disappointed, the funeral was on almost every channel!!!

I think Mother Teresa died the day before the funeral too.

gifted

In a mobile home in dingle, parents used own it and I used live in it for 6 months of the year, they called down one weekend and we ended up in the hilgrove hotel disco...mam dad and yours truly....I got warped...picked up some random woman and brought her back to mobile home and introduced her to the folks...they looking at me and probably wondering what the feck they were drinking in the disco.....woke up next morning and heard on the radio that Diana was dead....



Those were the days lol lol

branie2

At home, I found out when I turned on the television.

_Dara_

xzanti wrote: »

In the scratcher.

Yup!

meeeeh

I went interailing with friends and had to end it a few days before them. I got on the train from Paris wondering why is everyone reading tabloids because all newspapers had pictures of Diana on front page. When I landed in Trieste in Italy dad was picking me up and asked me did I hear Diana died. Then it dawned on me why there were pictures of her everywhere. I was in Paris when she died and didn't have a clue it happened until two days later.

Estrellita

In my parents home. I could hear my Mum and Dad talking loudly early in the morning. I could hear Dad saying ' God no. I don't believe it. I just can't believe it'. I came out of my room to see what the bother was, my Dad was glued to the screen. He's not the kind of person that would be easily shocked, but it would be fair to say he was struggling to comprehend what he was watching.

It was shocking, she seemed a genuinely nice woman. I felt so sorry for her boys, they were still so young when they lost her.

zcorpian88

I was 8, Went downstairs and turned on Sunday morning cartoons, and Cartoon Network had a scroll on the bottom of the screen, and said "Turn to Sky News for an important announcement"

I flick over to see the wrecked car, barely knew who she was at the time.

I was in a casino in Las Vegas. I remember all the tv screens started showing the news. There was a quieting down for a few mins, then Vegas life continued.

I was very sad to hear of her passing, and how it happened. I felt she was hunted to her death.
However, over her later years in public life, She possibly courted much of the press intrusion .
A very sad end for a young mother of two young boys.

OneArt

Was 7 at the time and in South Africa (where I grew up before my family moved back to Ireland). Up until the news came on, I had absolutely no idea who she was. I also had no idea that Wales was a place. So I remember asking my dad who replied, "She was the Princess of Wales." And all I could think of was this Daenarys-type woman riding on the back of a whale wearing a crown. That's pretty much the only reason the news of her death stuck in my mind.

I have of course since been aware that Wales is an actual country, of course.

I was in Kinsale on a surfing weekend when I heard the news, couldn't wait to get home to watch it on the news. Was quite saddened by it.

Postgrad10

I was playing connect 4 with my mum when my aunt called with the news. I remember seeing the two boys walking behind the coffin and feeling very sad for them.

KKkitty

In my aunt and uncle's house. My mam was very upset over it as was I.