In Moscow, where the Russian capital was busy celebrating its 850th anniversary, Princess Diana's funeral was not covered live on Russian TV. However, it was shown on the main news programme - but only after 15 minutes of other local and international news.
The coverage was extensive, with interviews on the streets of London and clips from a security camera showing the princess and Dodi al-Fayed leaving the Ritz Hotel in Paris to begin their fateful journey.
Earlier, NTV, one of the six Russian-language channels available in Moscow, showed a 50-minute documentary on Princess Diana's life. While the funeral got shorter coverage than the Moscow celebrations, it exceeded in length and intensity that given to the operation to repair the Mir space station, but took second place to the big ice hockey game between CSKA and Soviet Wings.
Younger people in Moscow on Saturday managed to join in the city's celebrations and express sympathy at the princess's death. Oleg Korolyov (32), who had recently moved to Moscow from the far eastern city of Vladivostok, told The Irish Times that he was saddened.
"There is great mourning in England on a day we are celebrating. We realise this and send our condolences."
Marina Fyodorova, a language student at Moscow State University, on her way into the Pushkin Square McDonalds, said: "In the West they are using our Russian word icon to describe Diana. This is the way we feel about her too. She represented our generation and our values. We were fond of her and we will miss her."
