Diana exhibit showcases personal items
William, Harry, choose desk, ballet shoes
LONDON • It was where she poured out her deepest hopes and fears in letters to friends and confidantes. Now, two decades on, the public can view the desk at which Diana, Princess of Wales, not only carried out her official work, but also sought solace from her troubled personal life.
The desk was chosen by Princes William and Harry for inclusion in a new exhibition at Buckingham Palace as a way of paying tribute to their mother’s memory.
The Duke of Cambridge and his brother selected the items displayed on the desk to remember Diana’s “commitment to duty,” as well as the time they spent with her as children at Kensington Palace. The items include her ballet shoes, which she used to hang on the door of her sitting room at Kensington Palace; a wooden tuck box bearing the name “D Spencer,” which she had at boarding school; and cassette albums by Diana Ross, Elton John and George Michael, as well as opera and piano concertos.
The desk — originally in her study at the palace — was used by the princess to conduct her official business, including reading briefing notes and official correspondence, and it was also where she expressed her emotional turmoil following the collapse of her marriage to the Prince of Wales.
In October 1993, 10 months after her separation from Prince Charles was announced, Diana wrote a note to her butler, Paul Burrell, in which she expressed her fear and suspicions about her estranged husband’s plans for her. She wrote “I am sitting here at my desk today in October, longing for someone to hug me and encourage me to keep strong and hold my head high.
“This particular phase in my life is the most dangerous — my husband is planning ‘an accident’ in my car, brake failure and serious head injury in order to make the path clear for him to marry Tiggy (Alexandra Legge-Bourke, the nanny to William and Harry). Camilla is nothing but a decoy, so we are all being used by the man in every sense of the word.”
The letter was shown at the inquest into her death in December 2007 — 10 years on from the high speed crash in a Paris underpass that ended her life — after some witnesses denied Diana had expressed fears for her safety.
The desk goes on display Saturday in the Music Room at Buckingham Palace, one of the State Rooms open to the public during the summer.
Also on display are dozens of gifts bestowed on the Queen, including jewelry and ornate craft products from numerous Commonwealth countries.
The exhibit runs July 22 to Oct. 1.