Video: 'UK: LONDON: QUEEN ADDRESSES NATION ON DEATH OF PRINCESS DIANA'

(Friday, September 5, 1997, 6:00 p.m. BST) — Speaking in remarkably personal terms for a British monarch, Queen Elizabeth today praised Diana, Princess of Wales, as “an exceptional and gifted human being,” and said, “I for one believe that there are lessons to be drawn from her life and from the extraordinary and moving reaction to her death.”

In a rare live television broadcast from a room overlooking the crowds of mourners milling about in front of Buckingham Palace in London on the eve of Diana’s funeral, the Queen said the Princess “never lost her capacity to smile and laugh, nor to inspire others with her warmth and kindness.”