Prince William and Prince Harry’s former bodyguard, Graham Craker, has died at age 77.
The beloved palace staffer, who was affectionally nicknamed “Crackers” by the younger brothers, served as their private safety officer on the time of their mom Princess Diana’s loss of life in 1997.
His reason for loss of life is unknown presently.
Craker walked with William and Harry behind their late mom’s hearse on the funeral because it made its approach from St. James’s Palace to Westminster Abbey.
He then accompanied Diana’s coffin on its remaining journey to her childhood dwelling at Althorp Home, which is her remaining resting place.
In his bombshell memoir “Spare,” launched in 2023, Harry recalled Craker having to repeatedly take away flowers from the windscreen thrown by mourners through the procession.
“The driver had to keep pulling over so the bodyguard could get out and clear the flowers off the windscreen,” the Duke of Sussex, 40, wrote.
“The bodyguard was Graham. Willy and I liked him a lot. We always called him Crackers. We thought that was hysterical.”
Craker additionally accompanied the late princess throughout a household journey to the Alton Towers theme park in England in 1994.
In an interview after the beloved royal’s tragic loss of life, Craker recalled the second he discovered the information whereas at Balmoral with the remainder of the royal household.
“I crept down the stairs to the house phone and dialed the duty office at Buckingham Palace,” he mentioned within the interview after his retirement. They mentioned there have been studies there’d been an accident and Dodi Fayed had been killed and the Princess had a damaged arm.”
“It was disbelief, really, and obviously a great deal of sorrow,” he added. “You try and deal with it as best you can but you do get quite emotional about it.”
Craker shared a poignant encounter with William the next morning, saying the alternate was “perhaps the most emotional” one.
“I saw William walking his dog outside, and I walked up to him and said, ‘I’m very, very sorry to hear your bad news.’ William very sadly said, ‘Thank you.’”
“William was comforted I was with his mum on her final journey,” he added.
In 2011, Craker was a visitor on the future king’s marriage ceremony to Kate Middleton.
Previous to becoming a member of the royal household’s safety group, he had spent 35 years serving in London’s Metropolitan Police.
Craker later spent a complete of 15 years working as a royal bodyguard till his retirement in 2001.
He was later appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order by the late Queen Elizabeth II for providers to the royal household. The late monarch additionally made him a Freeman of the Metropolis of London.
