LONDON, (Reuters) – The Dean of Westminster made a personal appeal to Buckingham Palace for singer Elton John to perform at Princess Diana’s funeral. These documents were released by government records.

Wesley Carr helped to conduct part of Diana’s funeral at Westminster Abbey following her August 1997 death in Paris.

We urge you to be bold. “This is a critical point in our service. “It is the place where unexpected things happen and some of the modern world the princess represented,” Carr stated in the National Archives note.

“I respectfully recommend that any classical, choral or popular (even a classic like by) be avoided. [composer Andrew]Lloyd Webber), is unacceptable. The enclosed Elton John song (which is loved by millions of people and was played by Princess Diana), would be more powerful.

John’s 1970 ballad, “Your Song”, was originally considered. But Carr said that Marilyn Monroe’s 1973 song, “Candle In the Wind”, was “widely played and sung all over the nation”. This performance would have an “imaginative, generous effect on the many millions of bereaved people”.

He said that words not too sentimental should not be printed in order of service if they are.

John continued to sing the song but there was no response from the Palace. John then revised the lyrics to be dedicated to “England’s Rose”. This was one of most moving moments at the funeral and it was viewed by more than 2.5 billion people.

This reissued version laments the death of a young woman in the pitiless spotlight of fame and went on to be the second most-sold physical single.

John claimed that 2019 was a difficult year for him because he worried so much about the lyrics being wrong at funerals. He had his piano equipped with a Teleprompter.