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Editor Steve Hall said: “Two of our editions had already gone by the time the announcement was made.

“We immediately stopped the run and did a page one and inside spread ready to go inside an hour, including local reaction from people like the Lord Lieutenant.”

The Express & Echo devoted just two pages to the story yesterday, coverage which included human interest items from people who knew the princess. But she had not been to the county since 1976 so opportunities for picture spreads of her visits were limited.

The Nottingham Evening Post got its first sniff at 8.30am when Sky News ran the story.

The first edition had already gone and community news editor Andy Smart alerted the editor and made the changes to page one and inside.

He said: “It fell right for us – although the Sundays carried a huge amount we had a full 24 hours.

“We already had a holding story about her visit to Nottinghamshire, as we have with all members of the royal family.

“But our reporters found they had to break the news to some of the people they called for a reaction – a local councillor who escorted her on a previous visit was quite upset.”

Coverage yesterday was a picture-led four-page special.

Around the rest of the country coverage yesterday ranged from seven pages at the Derby Evening Telegraph and eight in the Lancashire Evening Post to two pages for the York Evening Press and one in the Halifax Courier. The Sheffield Star carried five pages, the Liverpool Echo three and the Southern Daily Echo ten.

The story broke in time for all editions of the York Evening Press, the last edition on Saturday carrying four pages, including full local tributes and a picture of the Lord Mayor lighting a candle for the Princess in York Minster.

In Lincoln, the Echo delayed its first edition on Saturday to get a Page One story and Page Two obituary on the Princess and then later re-designed pages 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 – two and five providing a full obit of 1,000 words with pages four and five offering a 1,000 word piece of local interest.

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