The words uttered by Prince Harry after Diana's death

The royal family's insistence on carrying on as normal in the immediate aftermath of Diana's death left Prince Harry, 12, confused and wondering if his mother had really passed away. 

The revelation is made by the princess' biographer Tina Brown in tonight's Channel 5 documentary Diana: 7 Days That Shook The Windsors, which reveals the turmoil surrounding the week after the royal's death. 

'Prince Harry actually asked his father, "Is it true that Mummy's dead?"' she explained. 'The children couldn't understand why everything was as normal, except a couple of hours earlier they'd been told their mother had died.'

The programme explains that the royals' initial reaction to Diana's death was to 'do as they had always done' and, as it was a Sunday, that meant going to church at Balmoral where they where staying.  

Just hours earlier William, 15, and Harry, 12, had woken to the news that their mother had been killed in a car crash in Paris. 

However there was no mention of her during the service at Crathie Kirk church at the request of the Queen as she feared upsetting her grandsons. 

The documentary also reveals how tensions ran high as the royals battled with Downing Street over funeral arrangements - with Prince William initially refusing to walk behind the coffin in the funeral procession until he was persuaded by Prince Philip at the eleventh hour.

Meanwhile, Paul Burrell and Diana's chauffeur Colin Tebbutt had to set up a make-shift morgue when they went to Paris to collect her body from the Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital, bringing in fans to keep the stifling August heat at bay and hanging blankets on the windows to deter photographers.

According to the programme, it appeared to the public that the royals were treating Diana as they had done when she was alive - with 'cold detachment'. 

Royal bigographer Ingrid Seward summed up the public reaction, saying: 'The first thing we saw of the boys was when they were going to church for Sunday service.

And people were saying, "How could they? These boys have just lost their mother.'

The Mail's Richard Kay also recalled the shock over the fact that there was no mention of Diana during the service. 

'A lot of people found it extraordinary that at that time, no mention was made of her passing,' he said. 'That, I think, did ring a bell all over the country.' 

Source: Daily Mail.