Saturday September 6 8:57 AM EDT 

Brother, Elton John Send Emotions Soaring

By Paul Majendie 

LONDON (Reuter) - Earl Spencer's voice faltered and almost
cracked with emotion at the end of his glowing tribute to "the very
essence of compassion." 

Then the silence of Westminster Abbey was broken by spontaneous
applause that thundered down the aisles. It was an electric moment of
pure emotion. 

He caught the mood of a grieving, almost bewildered nation when he
said of his beloved sister: "Life without you is very, very difficult." 

But there was no mistaking the bitterness in his steely-edged voice as
he spoke of Diana, the woman named after the goddess of hunting
who became the most hunted woman on earth. 

His loathing of the media was laid out before the world. 

Crowds outside cheered and applauded when he boasted how he had
kept the paparazzi photographers at bay when his sister came to visit
him in South Africa in March. "That meant a lot to her." 

Spencer is slow to forgive the royal family that distanced itself from
Diana after her divorce from Prince Charles and stripped her of her
royal title. 

"Someone with a natural nobility who was classless and who proved in
the last year that she needed no royal title to continue to generate a
particular brand of magic," he said. 

He begged people not to canonize her memory after a week of
unprecedented grief. From punk rockers to pensioners, they have
flocked to the royal palaces to lay flowers, light candles and grieve. 

His voice started to crack as he paid tribute to Princes William and
Harry, facing the intolerable burden of losing at such a tender young
age the mother they adored. 

"William and Harry, we care desperately for you today. We are all
chewed up with sadness for the loss of a woman who wasn't even our
mother. How great your suffering is, we cannot even imagine." 

The other emotional highpoint of the service was rock singer Elton
John's voice soaring gloriously through the arches of the ancient
abbey. The "Candle in the Wind" had flickered. Now it was gone. 

In a song that looks certain to soar to number one in hit parades
around the world, John sang of Diana's compassion: "Your candle's
burned out long before your legend ever will." 

"You called out to our country and you whispered to those in pain.
Now you belong to heaven and the stars spell out your name." 

John, who had to be comforted by Diana at the July funeral of Italian
designer Gianni Versace, never faltered. But the cameras lingered
afterwards on the face of a man drained of emotion. He looked
exhausted. 

Abandoning the ruling that cameras would not focus on the royal
family, they caught Queen Elizabeth with red-rimmed eyes raising a
handkerchief to her face. She looked utterly distraught. 

The young princes, who had battled so long to hold back the tears, lost
their unequal struggle. Their eyes brimmed over. 

In the great sweeping majesty of Westminster Abbey, the coffin
looked so small. It was dwarfed by four giant candles at the altar. 

Pomp and ceremony were forgotten. This farewell to Diana tugged at
the heartstrings of a nation. 

It was moving in its intimacy, perfectly reflecting the compassion, the
simplicity of a woman who her brother said was "very insecure at
heart." 

Her sisters read in firm, strong voices, determined to pay a moving
last tribute. 

"For my sake, turn again to life and smile," read Lady Sarah
McCorquodale. 

"Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear,"
Lady Jane Fellowes said of the star that dared to soar and then fell to
earth. 

Prime Minister Tony Blair, who had so perfectly captured the nation's
grief with his tribute to the "People's Princess," read from the Bible:
"Love suffereth long and is kind." 

His voice quavered as he spoke.