‘All of us lost somebody that day’
On the anniversary of her death, Princess Diana’s sons speak of the grief that they share with a nation
The last time they inspected tributes at the gates of Kensington Palace, the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry were mourning the death of their mother.
Bewildered at the public hysteria, the boys, then just 12 and 15, shook hands with weeping strangers, made a convincing show of admiring the flowers, and resisted the pressure to break down in public.
As the rain fell on Kensington Palace yesterday, the brothers made a poignant visit back to the same gates on their own terms.
On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, the Duke and Prince made an unannounced trip to view a small display of tributes left outside their home, thanking several hundred well-wishers who had turned up.
Ever the older brother, the Duke talked Prince Harry through the sea of flowers that appeared in 1997, as they smiled at photographs of themselves and their mother pinned to the gates.
Pointing out where the original tributes had stretched to, he said: “Last time, it was all the way down.”
Prince Harry smiled at the sight of a large balloon lying among the flowers, while the Duke pointed out a childhood photograph of him and his mother in sunglasses. “Look at my shades,” he said.
Thanking members of the public for their support, the relaxed Duke and Prince accepted bouquets from visiting children, placing them carefully at the foot of a large banner, in a touching scene contrasting starkly with their visit 20 years ago.
Their public appearance, kept under wraps until the last minute, was the culmination of an emotional afternoon at Kensington Palace, where a garden of white flowers designed for the late Princess was unveiled to her sons and daughter-in-law.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry braved pouring rain for a tour of the White Garden, reminiscing about their childhoods and the happy times they had spent there.
The Duke told his wife he recalled the “pigeons and squirrels”, adding: “We used to come here a lot.”
He and the Prince took a moment to relive their fond memories of feeding the fish, as head gardener Sean Harkin told them some of the koi carp were so old they would be the same ones they had fed as children.
Admiring the new layout, which she said was less formal than previous designs, the Duchess said: “It does look really different, I love the semi wildness.” “We’re thrilled,” said the Duke. “Twenty years on, it feels so appropriate.”
Prince Harry was so taken with the plants, which included the Princess’s favourite forget-me-nots and white roses chosen for their perfume, that he told staff he would like to keep some of them after the garden closed, for his own, small, Kensington Palace plot.
The three young members of the Royal family also met representatives of eight charities close to the Princess’s heart: The Leprosy Mission, English National Ballet, National Aids Trust, Centrepoint, Great Ormond Street Hospital, the Royal Marsden Hospital, Child Bereavement UK and Landmine Survivors Network.
Prince Harry, keen to add to his own memories of his mother, asked for visitors to tell him stories about her, learning more about the work he was too young to appreciate in her lifetime.
The Duke shared his experiences with the charities, including his mother’s delight at being given ballet shoes by English National Ballet, and
Told he was like his mother in manner, the Duke said: ‘We try to follow her example in being ourselves and listening’
the 24 stitches he received at Great Ormond Street Hospital after a golf accident when he was nine.
Told by Cally Palmer, the chief executive of the Royal Marsden, that he was “so like” his mother in manner, he added: “We try to follow her example in being ourselves and listening.” Prince Harry said he knew how charity leaders felt about the loss of his mother and the impact it had on raising awareness, telling them: “All of us lost somebody.”
The event was designed to focus attention on the Princess’s legacy, 20 years after her death. The intervening period saw both Princes struggle to come to terms with their bereavement. In a documentary broadcast earlier this month, the brothers spoke movingly about the pressures they felt in 1997.
Recalling a visit to the gates, the Duke said: “What was very peculiar, but obviously incredibly touching, was everybody crying. The wailing and the crying and people wanting to touch us ...”
Prince Harry added: “I remember people’s hands wet because of the tears they’d just wiped away from their face.
“Looking at us then we must have been in just this state of shock.”
Yesterday, any inner turmoil was well-disguised. The Duke and Prince will spend today, the anniversary of their mother’s death, privately.
Rain drops made circular ripples on the water at the centre of the garden at Kensington Palace planted with white flowers in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales, as her sons made a poignant visit to the spot yesterday on the eve of the anniversary of her death 20 years ago. It was an event that at the time was hard to make sense of, partly because of its sudden violence, but also because of its double level. It was at the heart of the public life of the nation, but it was also a terrible, irrevocable fact in the young lives of human beings. The latter, private consideration – those poor boys – was surely what brought a tear from even the most hard-hearted. As men they speak with sense and feeling of their experience. They have merited the respect of the nation, and today its best course is to show that by its demeanour.