She brought them together as boys.. & is doing it again

IT is now three years since Princes William and Harry agreed that a memorial statue to their mother would be a suitable tribute to her memory.

Three years of wrangling, deciding, discussing and changing of minds. The sculptor Ian Rank-Broadley has been dealing with a tricky family committee including William and Harry and their aunts, Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes.

Not least of the problems was the emotional and physical distance between the two royal brothers.

In a way Diana has brought them together as she used to do when they were younger.

Like most siblings they fought constantly. Diana was often the peacemaker and would sit the boys on either side of her on the sofa at their Kensington Palace apartment and hug them. Then she would tell them off.

It has now been 23 years since her death and many more since the days she had to reprimand them.

It would be distressing to her if she knew that in the last couple of years they have barely spoken – torn apart by petty jealousies.

Diana often told them they must never fall out with each other, as if she understood that one day, she would not be there to protect them.

Now the design and making of her statue has forced them to speak to each other.

When they talk of Diana in public their personal differences appear forgotten although their lives are separate with Harry living his “woke” existence in California with Meghan and Archie.

The statue will be ready before the due date of Diana’s 60th birthday in July next year and will be installed in the sunken garden of Kensington Palace. Diana’s “wish” of repairing her sons’ differences can then come to fruition.