On the eve of the 20th anniversary of her death, Princes William and Harry of England paid homage to their mother, Diana of Wales, in the gardens of Kensington Palace, her home since 1981 until the day of her death in 1997.
Alongside the Duchess of Cambridge, the members of the royal family sheltered under umbrellas as they toured the White Garden, normally referred to as the historic Sunken Garden, decorated with white flowers and foliage, designed in memory of Princess Diana.
The princes also met with representatives of the charities supported by their mother, including the Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, The Leprosy Mission, the National Aids Trust, and the English National Ballet. “All of us lost somebody,” said prince Harry during the meeting.
A spokeswoman for the Kensington Palace said the visit allowed William, 35, and her brother Harry, 32, “to pay tribute to the life and work of their mother.”
The white garden is the fourth official venue in London honoring “the queen of hearts”, including the Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens, the Diana Memorial Fountain nearby Hyde Park, and the Diana Memorial Walk, which runs from Buckingham Palace to Kensington Palace.
Princess Diana of Wales died on August 31, 1997 as a result of injuries sustained in a car crash in the Pont de l’Alma road tunnel in Paris, France. Harry, who was just 12 at the time, recalled his understating of the paparazzi’s involvement in an interview with BBC.
“She had quite a severe head injury, but she was very much alive on the backseat, and those people that caused the accident, instead of helping, were taking photographs of her dying on the back seat. And then those photographs made their way back to news desks in this country.”
