September 3 1997
   The ceremony: Alan Hamilton on arrangements
      for the staging of Saturday's funeral
 
       Westminster Abbey resembled a film
                      set
        yesterday as technicians erected
            scaffolding and lighting
 
         Abbey prepares to make history
            Landmine survivors invited
 
  THE mother church of the nation's ceremonial
  resembled nothing so much as a film set as it
  prepared to host an unhappy event that will be
  watched around the world.
 
  Westminster Abbey closed its doors to the late
  summer throng of tourists yesterday morning,
  and will not reopen until Tuesday. Prominent . .
  notices posted at all doors told of the          .
  reason, and the milling hordes of overseas
  visitors seemed to understand. But they hung
  about the railings anyway, just in case.
                                                   Marketing -
  Inside the soaring Gothic cavern, which with
  its earlier buildings has looked down on
  nearly a millennium of coronations, marriages
  and funerals, the day was given over to
  technicians. Television riggers hoisted great
  gantries of lighting up to the triforium,
  while others began the building of scaffolding
  to accommodate the army of cameramen,
  photographers and journalists who will record
  the last appearance of the woman who gave so
  many of them a living.
 
  Other electricians were at work wiring up the
  public address system which will relay the
  service to loudspeakers positioned along the
  entire processional route from St James's
  Palace, where the Princess's coffin currently
  lies in the privacy of the Chapel Royal, to
  the abbey.
 
  Hundreds of chairs were stacked yesterday in
  the aisles of the abbey to keep the nave clear
  for the workforce. By Saturday they will be
  back in place to accommodate the congregation
  of 2,000 mourners at the funeral of Diana,
  Princess of Wales.
 
  There has been no event quite like it at the
  abbey since the state funeral of Earl
  Mountbatten of Burma in 1979. Saturday's event
  will attract far more attention, but the abbey
  is a well-oiled machine quite used to coping
  with the grandeurs of state. It copes equally
  well with more humble events: not many weeks
  ago a similarly sized congregation assembled
  under the medieval fan vaulting there for a
  memorial service to honour the cricketer Denis
  Compton.
 
  It even has its own catafalque, the stand on
  which the Princess's coffin will lie before
  the high altar. It will be wheeled from
  storage later this week and placed in position
  under the lantern.
 
  Closure of the abbey has meant that its
  regular daily services have had to be moved,
  either to the side chapel of St Faith's, or to
  St Margaret's, Westminster, the parish church
  of Parliament immediately next door. Abbey
  officials hope to restore services to their
  usual place on Sunday.
 
  Serious preparation goes on out of sight,
  mostly in the offices of Chapter House in
  Dean's Yard behind the abbey. Yesterday staff
  were recalling the boys of the Westminster
  Choir School from their summer holiday, but as
  the order of service has not yet been
  finalised they will not be called to
  rehearsals until later this week. Other staff
  in the offices are spending their days in
  constant liaison with Buckingham Palace over
  precise arrangements, and the police over
  security details.
 
Dr Carr, who is in charge of arranging the
    service. "This is the biggest thing I have
           ever done," he said yesterday
 
 
  The burden of the service and its preparation
  falls on the Very Rev Wesley Carr, Dean of
  Westminster, who took up his post in February
  after serving a spell as Dean of Bristol. As
  the custodian of a Royal Peculiar - a church
  under the direct authority of the Queen - Dr
  Carr has no bishop to whom to turn, or to
  answer.
 
  He is on his own, although Dr George Carey,
  Archbishop of Canterbury, will assist at the
  service. "This is the biggest thing I have
  ever done," Dr Carr said yesterday. "But it is
  a rare opportunity for the abbey to bring
  together pageantry, royal history and the
  common touch."
 
  Dr Carr has spent many hours in study, and in
  consultation with Buckingham Palace and the
  Spencer family, in an effort to strike the
  right note. "It is difficult to be sensitive
  to the whole range of emotion and expectation.
  Obviously this is a unique occasion, but every
  funeral is unique, and the pastor must try to
  express that uniqueness at every funeral he
  conducts.
 
  "I have to try to think through all the
  components of the service. I have to consider
  what people want, but I must also keep the
  momentum of the service going.
 
  "One difficuly has been that the entire world
  wants to have a say in the order of service;
  we have had so many letters and telephone
  calls here suggesting that this hymn or that
  prayer should be included. In the end, it is
  my decision, in consultation with the
  familes."
 
  Dr Carr added: "We should not forget that this
  is a young death. There will be many young
  people, in the congregation and outside, who
  will feel doubly depressed at the death of the
  Princess. The feeling and the sentiment of the
  lituargy must capture that."
 
  Dr Carr, the archbishop, the cathedral
  sub-organist Martin Baker, and the organist
  and choirmaster Martin Neary, will be the key
  figures at a full rehearsal on Friday, when
  they will ensure that the abbey's reputation
  for seamless ceremonial is maintained.
 
  Landmine survivors invited
 
  Two landmine victims who organised the
  Princess's recent trip to Bosnia will attend
  her funeral. Ken Rutherford and Jerry White,
  founders of the Landmine Survivors Network,
  said they were deeply honoured to be asked.
  They will be joined by Chris Moon, another
  landmine victim, who raised money for charity
  by running across the Sahara. They impressed
  the Princess with their determination to
  overcome their disabilities and help others.