Thousands pay tributes to People’s Princess Diana on her 20th death anniversary
Thousands of admirers of Princess Diana paid tributes with flowers, posters and images at the gates of Kensington Palace in London as the UK on Thursday marked the 20th death anniversary of the "people's princess".
Members of the public have been visiting the Palace where Diana had lived for more than 15 years after her separation and then divorce from Prince Charles, the heir to Britain's throne.
Flowers, posters and images of the former Princess of Wales were piling up at the gates of the Kensington Palace. The tributes from her fans and well-wishers refer to her as "princess of hearts" and "people's princess" as they gathered at the palace to mark the 20 th anniversary of her death in a tragic car crash in Paris at the age of 36.
It had also become the focal point for public tributes 20 years ago as the news of Diana's death unleashed a widespread public outpouring of grief among the British public.
Princess Diana had been in Paris at the conclusion of a European holiday with her Egyptian billionaire boyfriend Dodi Al Fayed when the limousine they were travelling in crashed at Alma Tunnel of the French capital as it tried to out-speed paparazzis chasing the vehicle.
Her sons, Princes William and Harry, had walked up to the mounting tributes at Kensington Palace on Wednesday after they took a tour of new White Garden in the grounds of the palace created in memory of their mother.
The princes, who were 15 and 12 years old at the time of the tragic accident in 1997, have spoken out about their grief for the first time in a series of television documentaries in the last few week.
"All of us lost somebody," Harry said to representatives of charities supported by Diana during the tour of the White Garden.
Some public services are planned across the UK, including at East London's Mildmay Mission Hospital, which the princess regularly visited when it was a hospice caring for HIV patients. –PTI