Yes, Tony Blair was the Prime Minister when Diana died in 1997. I couldn't remember his name or I would have directly named him in my earlier post when I pointed out that the PM spoke of Diana being 'The People's Princess.' The statement Blair gave in the immediate aftermath of Diana's death was genius and heartfelt. It went a long way toward comforting people who were distressed and anguished throughout the country and the Commonwealth. People can look back on that time and cast aspersions for all of the emotion that people felt. However, the emotion was genuinely felt and deeply anguished. That's because Diana touched people's hearts. She simply did. Yes she had faults and she made mistakes. But I for one am glad Diana didn't just sit back and take Charles cheating on her.
Rather than looking at a fictionalized Hollywood account*, here are Blair's historic comments:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX8nuyI9WJY
I don't see how anyone can characterize his words or even his later actions as 'using Diana's death.' His powerful words were solely about Diana and what her loss meant, not about himself. I am glad there was something in Blair that helped him rise to the occasion. I think Blair understood it was an important moment in time and that he as a leader of the country needed to speak from his heart in a way that could truly comfort people who were utterly heartbroken. Diana's death was shocking and devastating, no matter how some people today feel embarrassed about the depth of emotions the entire country (and the world) felt back then.
I am not sure what is being referred to by Blair 'using' Diana's death. That's not what his initial motivation was IMHO. I feel that he was sensitive to the enormity of what had happened, and he had an accurate reading of the public's overwhelming grief. In fact, Blair's spot-on reading of people's emotions is what enabled him to advise the Queen in no uncertain terms, which turned out to be important in the heat of that historic moment. Blair's memorable remarks went a long way toward calming the country. You would have had to live through that time in Britain to truly understand the depths of people's emotions. It was because they felt Diana had been let down by the royals (and in many ways she had been let down, betrayed and disappointed by them). In some way, the British people may have felt (as people tend to feel when someone they love dies) a sense of guilt that they too had let her down. And that kind of realization is devastating when it's too late to rectify because the person is gone. The royal family certainly learned a lot from Diana's death and from her life. Above all, the royal family is lucky to have Diana's sons in direct line of succession.
ETA:
*Thanks to
@Sylvia for linking that trailer. I really enjoyed that film, and Helen Mirren's performance was amazing.
The Queen, is an excellent dramatization of those events, but not the real events. The story in the movie was told from a specific point of view sympathetic to QEII, which is fine. But when tragedies happen, there are many conflicting points of view. That's life. I prefer to be more thoughtful in looking at all sides and not making sweeping generalizations. Life and relationships are complicated. Perhaps the royal family felt that Blair was being insensitive to their feelings at the time, but I think history has proven that his understanding of that powerful moment was more accurate than the Queen's. Of course, the boys probably should not have been expected to walk behind their mother's coffin. There
is royal tradition behind that practice. But they were too young and too heartbroken. Still, those images are lasting and powerful. And what's done is done. Move on, learn from it. That's what the Queen and the royal family have done, no matter the specifics of their private feelings and private family interactions in the aftermath of Diana.
) Anyway, the Wessex cypher I had to look at closely too, because once again there's a bit of an optical illusion. At first it just looks like lines. I realized the second one is an S, but I forgot the Earl of Wessex's first name! And then I realized the first jagged lines denote an E for Edward criss-crossing at top and bottom over Sophie's S. 
