Diana statue to bring princes back together
Brothers expected to come together to see memorial to princess revealed at Kensington Palace
A statue of Diana, Princess of Wales, will be unveiled on what would have been her 60th birthday next year, with her sons expected to set aside their differences and reunite for the event. The memorial was due to be installed in Kensington Palace Gardens last year, but was delayed after the Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex decided they needed more time to “get it right”, amid reports of tensions between them. Kensington Palace said the statue would be unveiled on July 1.
THE Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex are expected to put their differences aside to reunite for the unveiling of a statue of their mother on what would have been her 60th birthday next year.
The memorial to Diana, Princess of Wales was supposed to have been installed in Kensington Palace Gardens last year, but was delayed after her sons decided they needed more time to “get it right”. There were suggestions that a feud between the brothers had caused the project to stall amid reports that they were “barely on speaking terms”.
Yesterday, Kensington Palace issued a rare joint statement on behalf of the Dukes announcing that the memorial would be revealed in the Sunken Garden of Kensington Palace on July 1, 2021. “The statue that Prince William and Prince Harry have commissioned to commemorate their mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, will be installed next year on what would have been her 60th birthday,” the statement read. “The statue was commissioned to mark the 20th anniversary of her death, and recognise her positive impact in the UK and around the world. The Princes hope that the statue will help all those who visit Kensington Palace to reflect on their mother’s life and legacy.”
A palace source said the design stages of the statue had progressed, but installation had been delayed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. It follows reports that progress on the artwork had been hampered by the recent tensions between the Cambridges and the Sussexes. The Sussexes stepped down as senior royals in March after the Duke admitted he and his brother were “certainly on different paths”.
Last night, a source close to the Sussexes, who recently moved into an £11million home in Santa Barbara, said they were “happy to work with Kensington Palace on something that is so important to everyone”.
The Princes first announced plans for the statue in January 2017. That August, they marked the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death with a memorial White Garden, on the same grounds they had played in as children in Kensington Palace.
The Princes, who were 15 and 13 when she was killed in a Paris car crash on Aug 31, 1997, commissioned the statue after the £3.6million Diana Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park was beset with problems.
Her grave is on an island at her family seat, Althorp, Northants, where it cannot be accessed by the public, and her sons had long felt that there was no “fitting or lasting tribute” to her.
In December 2017, sculptor Ian Rank-broadley, whose effigy of the Queen has appeared on all Commonwealth coins since 1998, was revealed as the chosen artist.
In July 2019, the Duke of Cambridge reportedly told fans gathered outside Kensington Palace, on what would have been his mother’s 58th birthday, that the statue would materialise “very soon”.
But reports in May this year suggested the brothers had struggled to agree on how it would look.
A palace insider said a design had been settled on, and that “ground work” had started. Last night, a well-placed source said both Dukes were involved in the ongoing process, and that more details would be announced in due course.
‘The statue will be installed next year on what would have been her 60th birthday’