20 years on, Harry and Wills’ moving return to a sea of Diana tributes
William and Harry’s impromptu visit to Diana shrine on eve of anniversary
TWENTY years ago they were young boys struggling to accept the loss of their beloved mother.
Aged 12 and 15, Harry and william stopped outside Kensington Palace to look at the floral tributes to Diana.
yesterday, now men – and in william’s case a father of two – the princes chose to recreate that poignant moment to mark the anniversary of her death.
william and Harry’s moving tribute was an impromptu gesture, sparked, they said, by the thousands of flowers, cards and messages they have received in recent weeks, several hundred of which could be seen outside the palace’s black and gold gates.
As they approached the scene, william, 35, pointed out to his 32year-old brother where the sea of tributes had stretched to in 1997.
‘Last time, it was all the way down,’ he said. He seemed particularly impressed by the professionalism and time spent on some of the tributes, adding: ‘Look, they’ve put a banner up.’
The princes, carrying umbrellas in the rain, stopped to accept bouquets from the public, which they laid with the other tributes in front of the gates. Harry spoke to Gracie Oxby, eight, and her sister Maisy, ten, from Langdon Hill, essex.
‘He asked us who we were and where we wanted to him to lay the flowers,’ said Gracie. ‘I’m shaking with excitement still.’
Their mother Rhian, 40, added: ‘Diana was just a legend, she meant so much to everybody and touched so many people. She is such an important figure, even 20 years after her death.’
Last week william and Harry recalled in a BBC documentary the anguish of their return to Kensington Palace from Balmoral, where they were staying when news of their mother’s death broke on August 31, 1997. william said: ‘everyone was crying and wailing and wanting to touch us.’ Harry recalled: ‘People’s hands were wet because of the tears they had just wiped away from their faces before shaking my hand. Looking at us then, we must have been in just this state of shock.’
Kensington Palace insisted that yesterday’s tribute was something they both genuinely wanted to do, adding: ‘They wanted to say thank you to those who made the journey to Kensington Palace.’
Before their walkabout, the princes, accompanied by william’s wife Kate, visited a memorial garden in the grounds of the palace created for Diana.
The white Garden is filled with simple flowers and foliage inspired by memories of her life. The princes said they were ‘thrilled’ with the garden. ‘we used to come here a lot,’ william said. Recalling feeding the koi carp in the pond, he was touched to be told that some were old enough to have been there when his mother was alive.
Afterwards, the three met representatives from six of the charities that Diana remained patron of at the time of her death, plus two others particularly close to her heart: The Leprosy Mission, english national Ballet, national Aids Trust, homeless charity Centrepoint, Great Ormond Street Hospital, the Royal Marsden Hospital, Child Bereavement UK and Landmine Survivors network.
Harry told one group of campaigners: ‘All of us lost somebody.’ Several times he asked of them: ‘Tell me a story about my mum.’
Peter Waddup of The Leprosy Mission said afterwards: ‘We told Prince Harry how when Diana first went to Indonesia she was in a hospital and suddenly saw a ward with leprosy patients in it.
‘She asked about it and was told that she shouldn’t go in there – so she promptly did, while the dignitaries all watched from behind the windows. She sat with them on the beds and held their hands. She was prepared to do what people had never done.
‘Harry and his brother just wanted to hear these personal stories. It is clear that she is a role model for them.’
Kenneth Rutherford, co-founder of the Landmine Survivors Network, spent three days with Diana in Bosnia shortly before she died.
He said: ‘We couldn’t find anyone to support us at that point and she just embraced it despite the very public criticism she received.
‘Harry is very uncomplicated, just like his mother. His first question to me was, “Did my mother make a difference?” and I told him, “You bet she did”.’
Today, the anniversary of Diana’s death, will be marked privately by her sons, Kensington Palace has said. Harry is believed to be with his girlfriend Meghan Markle, who has stayed on in the UK after their holiday to Africa.