Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales Althorp. Two thousand people attended the ceremony in Westminster Abbey while the British television audience peaked at 32.10 million, one of the United Kingdom's highest viewing figures ever. An estimated 2.5 billion people watched the event worldwide, making it one of the biggest televised events in history. Diana's coffin, draped with the royal standard with an ermine border (i.e. the Other Members' standard), was brought to London from the Salpêtrière Hospital, via Vélizy – Villacoublay Air Base, Paris, by Diana's former husband Charles, Prince of Wales and her two sisters on 31 August 1997. After being taken to a private
Diana, Princess of Wales glimpse of the couple en route to the ceremony. At the altar, Diana inadvertently reversed the order of Charles's first two names, saying "Philip Charles" Arthur George instead. She did not say that she would "obey" him; that traditional vow was left out at the couple's request, which caused some comment at the time. Diana wore a dress valued at £9,000 with a 25-foot (7.62-metre) train. After she became Princess of Wales, Diana automatically acquired rank as the third-highest female in the United Kingdom Order of Precedence (after the Queen and the Queen Mother), and was fifth or sixth in