Members of the British royal family said they were “deeply touched” by the outpouring of grief exhibited by people all around the globe in the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death.

Frances Shand Kydd, Princess Diana’s mother, also issued a statement after leaving her house on Scotland’s Isle of Seil to attend her daughter’s burial in London.

Mrs. Frances Shand Kydd said: “My heartfelt thank-you’s to everyone for their prayers, flowers and letters – and for endless thoughtful kindness, following the death of my daughter Diana.

“I pray for her and the two men who died with her and for their families. I am so proud of William and Harry, and Diana’s sisters, Sarah and Jane and her brother, Charles.

“I thank God for the gift of Diana and for all her loving and giving. I give her back to Him, with my love, pride and admiration to rest in peace.”

Buckingham Palace issued its first public comments on Diana’s death since a short 24-word statement given just hours after the Paris automobile accident that took her life, amid growing criticism of the royals’ somber manner of grieving and lack of speech.

“All the royal family, especially the Prince of Wales, Prince William and Prince Harry, are taking strength from the overwhelming support of the public, who are sharing their tremendous sense of loss and grief,” the statement added. “They are deeply touched and enormously grateful.”

In 1954, Mrs Shand-Kydd married Diana’s father, Viscount Althorp. They separated six years after Diana’s birth, in 1967.

Father Roddy Johnson, a personal friend of Mrs Shand- Kydd’s, said, “I think she doesn’t want to see the work that Diana did disappearing and that she would like very much that it continues.”

Since Diana’s corpse was returned to Britain by her former husband, Prince Charles, the royal family has faced press and public criticism for their apparent silence and distance.

This conventional, dry-eyed, unemotional grieving manner of the royal family, sometimes characterized as “stiff upper lip,” did not sit well with some Britons, particularly because it contrasted so sharply with Diana’s more open, emotional approach in life.

“It’s just a typical reaction of the royal family. Stick to protocol, don’t worry about human emotions,” said one woman waiting to offer her condolences at St. James’s Palace.

“It proves, if anyone every doubted it, that the royals are not like us,” declared The Sun newspaper.

“They are an alien breed from a planet which is stuck in a 19th century time warp.”

“Show us there’s a heart in the House of Windsor,” the Sun said.