Earl Spencer, that euology and 'a whisper of satisfaction from Diana's coffin'

Earl Spencer said he had rehearsed his speech while standing in front of Diana's coffin before the funeral at Westminster Abbey.

He famously attacked the Royals and the media from the pulpit in September 1997 for the way his sister was treated.

More news...

• First Kate, now sister Pippa splits from heir

Now, writing about the eulogy, the twice-divorced Earl said: "I had practised the speech to myself repeatedly over the days preceding the funeral, trying to familiarise myself with the passages that might lead me to break down, a very real possibility. I read it to Diana's coffin, in the chapel at St James's Palace, and at the conclusion heard a whisper that sounded like satisfaction in that sad, sad, place."

The public reaction when he delivered the speech made him a temporary hero - and it has been nominated as one of the greatest of the 20th Century.

The Earl, now 42, used his speech to make a thinly veiled attack on the Royal Family for stripping Diana of her Royal status, describing her as a British girl who 'needed no Royal title to continue to generate her brand of magic'. And he pledged to Princes William and Harry that his 'blood family' would protect them from the problems of being Royal.

He also attacked the media and paparazzi photographers, saying the greatest irony of her life was that 'a girl given the name of the ancient goddess of hunting, was, in the end, the most hunted person of the modern age'.

Writing about the speech in The Guardian, the Earl said he had based it partly on the public's view of his sister. "From the hundreds of letters I had received from around the world, the two themes that were the most common were revulsion at the gutter press and concern that William and Harry would be led to an unhappy upbringing by the cold, dry, hand of the Establishment.

"I decided to concentrate on a celebration of an extraordinary life, lived to the full. Within two hours I had completed every word, a stream of writing that came more from my heart than my head."

He said he was surprised by the public reaction.

"I had no expectation that the speech would be greeted as anything more than a brother's solid tribute to his complex sister's magnificent life."