Will Diana statue heal rift between Wills and Harry?
A STATUE of Diana, Princess of Wales commissioned by Prince William and Prince Harry is to be unveiled next year on what would have been her 60th birthday.
It will be installed on July 1 at Kensington Palace, her former home, in the Sunken Garden.
The princes gave the go-ahead for the statue in 2017 – 20 years after their mother’s death in a Paris car crash.
However, relations between the brothers became strained over Harry’s marriage to Meghan Markle and the couple’s departure from the royal family and the UK. Harry and Wills have barely been on speaking terms for 18 months, so yesterday’s announcement – in a rare joint statement – will raise hopes that this collaboration will bring them together.
If not, it opens the prospect of an uncomfortable public meeting when the statue is unveiled.
The last time they were seen together was in March at a Commonwealth Day service in Westminster Abbey when their body language was icy.
Royal sources told the Mail that while they were likely to attend the unveiling together, the statue project had by no means mended the rift between them.
One said: ‘Although it is clearly a joint project and anything that honours their mother is far bigger than any ill-feeling between the two of them, it is not something that they have been practically working on together.
Another added: ‘There is a long way to go.’ The statue, which is being funded by private donations, including one from the princes, has been created by artist Ian Rank-Broadley, whose portrait of the Queen appears on all British coins.
Its completion is said to have been delayed by teething problems because the brothers wanted it to be ‘just right’.
It was finished in 2018 but the unveiling was held back as Harry and Meghan wed, went on a series of tours and moved to the US.
No details or images of the statue have been seen. Kensington Palace said yesterday its installation had been delayed by lockdown.
On Monday it will be 23 years since Diana died. William was 15 and Harry was 12. A £3.6million memorial fountain to her in Hyde Park was compared to a water slide when it opened in 2004.