The former bodyguard of Prince William and Prince Harry has died. Graham “Crackers” Craker worked as a protection officer for the two royals when they were children. During the funeral of their mother Princess Diana, he walked with them behind their mum’s hearse as it was transported from St James’s Palace to Westminster Abbey, where her funeral was held.
Footage of the day showed him sitting in the front of the hearse as it took the princess to Althorp House, her final resting place. He was also seen brushing flowers from the windscreen by the thousands of mourners who gathered in grief along the route.
Graham was even mentioned in Harry’s controversial memoir, Spare. In it, he wrote: “The driver had to keep pulling over so the bodyguard could get out and clear the flowers off the windscreen.
“The bodyguard was Graham. Willy and I liked him a lot. We always called him Crackers. We thought that was hysterical.”
He was also photographed during other public occasions in the young princes’ lives, including a visit to Alton Towers with Diana in April 1994.
Graham retired in 2001 after spending 35 years in the Metropolitan Police, 15 of those as a royal bodyguard. He was so dear to William that he was even invited to his 2011 wedding with Kate.
The late Queen Elizabeth II awarded him as a Member of the Royal Victorian Order for his services to her family. When he retired, he volunteered for charities in Ware, including Southern Maltings creative centre.
Friends and colleagues at the charity wrote: “Today it is with much sadness that we must share that our friend and colleague, Graham Craker, has sadly died.
“Graham has been on our journey almost from the very beginning, and has been behind our bar for the whole of that time, making sure everyone has the best of times.
“While to the most important people in his life Graham was a father, and grandfather, to us he was a valued friend and colleague. He was the only volunteer to have a set of keys to the building, such is the measure of how trusted and respected he was, and it was not unusual to find him around, even when there was no event, because he wanted to make sure the bar was clean, stocked and ready for everyone else.
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“But mostly, for those of us who worked events, he will be remembered for his laugh, his warmth and the way he always just wanted to help people. From a career in the police, as a member of the protection squad, a huge driving force in the rotary and eventually a key volunteer at the Southern Maltings, so many people are going to miss our very own James Bond.
“Our broken hearts go out to his family and everyone who knew him. RIP Crackers, we’ll make sure you are remembered behind the bar and will raise a glass for you this evening. “
Graham previously described being at Balmoral with the Royal Family when Diana died in a car crash in Paris in 1997. During an interview, Graham said: “I crept down the stairs to the house phone and dialled the duty office at Buckingham Palace.
“They said there were reports there’d been an accident and Dodi Fayed had been killed and the Princess had a broken arm.”
He recalled the moment he found out Diana had also died. He said: “It was disbelief, really, and obviously a great deal of sorrow. You try and deal with it as best you can but you do get quite emotional about it.”
Graham continued: “Perhaps the most emotional was seeing William the morning after.
“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’.”
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