Sky News documentary features Princess Diana's final hours and enduring legacy

The moving accounts of those who witnessed first-hand the events surrounding the death of Princess Diana will be broadcast in a new Sky documentary.

The programme, Diana: The People's Princess, looks at Diana's final hours, the extraordinary events leading up to her funeral and the enduring legacy of her charitable work.

It will be shown on Sky1 at 8pm on Tuesday, ahead of the 20th anniversary of her death on the 31 August next week.

One poignant recollection comes from the man who was military attaché to the British Embassy in Paris at the time, Sky News reports.

Brigadier Charles Ritchie helped with the repatriation of Diana's body back to the UK, and more significantly broke protocol by deciding that the Royal Standard and not the Union Flag should be draped on the coffin.

In the programme Brigadier Ritchie says: "Her body was in a coffin, there was never a mark on her face, she was beautifully made up, she looked as though she was sleeping.

"The RAF sergeant as I recall said, 'Which flag shall we put on the coffin sir?' And I said, 'What flag have you got?' And he said the Union Flag and the Royal Standard.

"I said, 'Well my head says the Union Jack, my heart says the Royal Standard'. Unless it is a member of the Royal family that is dead the Royal Standard should not be used.

"And I said 'put on the Royal Standard I will take responsibility.'"

The Standard Flag is normally only used for members of the Royal family. From the time of her divorce Diana was no longer known as Her Royal Highness.