20 years on, flowers and tributes back at gates of Diana's palace

20 years on, flowers and tributes back at gates of Diana's palace




The mood in the capital is more muted than it was in 1997, but the Princess of Wales is still being remembered... fiercely by some, fondly by others

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Diana, Princess of Wales
By Lindy McDowell
August 30 2017
He stands just beyond those great and famous gates, one hand rakishly on hip, a cane in the other. A sword hangs from the waist of his frock coat. His boots are spurred and his wide hat is festooned with plumes.

The bronze statue of William III, or King Billy, as he is better known to us here, was erected in front of Kensington Palace in the early 1900s.

William bought what used to be called Nottingham House back in 1689 for £20,000. It stood in the country village of Kensington and was far, in those days, from central London and its pollution and thus an ideal home for the asthmatic king and his wife, Queen Mary.

They both died here. She in 1694; he, having developed pneumonia two weeks after a fall from his horse, in March 1702.

By the time of his death, he was not a popular monarch. Many English people viewed their Dutch king as a bit of an outsider.



Other monarchs have lived there, too. It is where Victoria was born and where at the age of 18 she was informed that she was now queen.

But of all the royals associated with Kensington Palace, it is Diana, Princess of Wales who remains, in death, its foremost chatelaine.

Twenty years ago, the entire world was witness to those unforgettable images of the massed, grieving crowds and the ocean of flowers lapping around the palace gates.

Diana, the most famous woman on the planet, had been killed in a car accident in Paris and the famously restrained British public had erupted with a volcanic outpouring of emotion that defied all precedence, even, according to some, all explanation.



Twenty years on, the scenes outside the palace this week have inevitably been much more muted.

But Diana is remembered still. Fiercely, by some. Fondly, by others. In death, she remains an icon. A legend.

And, it has to be said, a bit of a tourist attraction.

The gates of Kensington Palace are still adorned with her picture, with fresh bunches of flowers, and with written messages.



She was the People's Princess and this is the people's enduring homage.

Some of tributes, it has to be said, do have a bit of a third-form art class look about them.

There are a couple of collages of glossy pages from the likes of Hello! magazine. There is a pink hand-knitted bird, stones painted with her name, framed photographs, cards, candles.

Some of the flowers have wilted, but most are fairly recent. A young man tapes a bunch of sunflowers to the gate as an elderly little lady adjusts the bouquet she left earlier in the week.



The messages run to a theme ...forever in our thoughts ...your sons have done you proud ...Queen of Hearts.

A few appear to have been spontaneously scribbled. One, in French, is on a torn notebook page addressed to 'Chere Diana'.

There's a rambling message flapping on a piece of kitchen roll and, on a square of plastic tagged to the railings, another which reads, "Diana, our beautiful queen of hearts, we will always love you".

Tourists stand in front of the famous gates to pose for selfies, with the palace as backdrop.

Camera crews from around the world have been coming and going as the anniversary of the princess's death approaches.

Felix from Sydney tells one television presenter that he was in London back in 1997 and remembers well the shock and the grief of those days.

She always had a smile on her face, he says, but he thinks hers was a hard life. It feels like a sort of deja vu being back again for the 20th anniversary, he adds.

Also back for the 20th anniversary is Catherine Murray, who lives in England but is originally from Wicklow.

Catherine recalls the sense of shock when she heard the news that day in 1997.

On the Monday morning, she and her husband, who is English, came early to the Palace before they went to their work in Mayfair.