Names and faces
Dozens of floral tributes, photos and personal messages were laid at the gates of London’s Kensington Palace on Thursday as Britain remembered Princess Diana on the 20th anniversary of her death in a Paris car crash. Fans gathered at the palace, Diana’s former home, to mark two decades since the princess’s death triggered a flood of grief across Britain and beyond. Her admirers began paying tribute to Diana before dawn, placing candles shaped in the letter “D” at the palace gates. “We had never met her and been nowhere near her, but I think she touched so many people because of who she was, the way she conducted herself in the context of where she was living and who she became,” said Mara Klemich, 55, a royal well-wisher from Sydney, Australia. Princes William and Harry honored their mother Wednesday at Kensington Palace, visiting a garden where she would stroll by and ask the gardeners about their ever-changing displays. The princes and the Duchess of Cambridge met with well-wishers afterward. The weeks leading up to the anniversary have been met with reflection in Britain as the public remembers “the people’s princess” and considers her contributions to the country, such as her charitable work. The 36-year-old princess died in the early hours of Aug. 31, 1997. The Mercedes she was in, pursued by paparazzi, crashed into a concrete pillar in the Alma Tunnel in Paris while traveling at more than 60 mph. Diana, her boyfriend Dodi Fayed and their driver Henri Paul were all killed. Her bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, was injured but survived.
Actor Mark Ruffalo joined activists marching from Charlottesville, Va., to the nation’s capital to condemn white supremacy recently on display in the Virginia city. The Avengers star tweeted photos of himself Thursday in “The March to Confront White Supremacy.” In a statement, Ruffalo said he’s marching in memory of Heather Heyer, 32, who died when a car plowed into a group of people protesting the white-nationalist rally in Charlottesville on Aug. 12. Ruffalo also condemned President Donald Trump’s response that “both sides” were to blame for the violence at the rally. Ruffalo said there’s “no place for racism, violence, and hatred” in the country. Organizers said they had to stop Wednesday’s portion of the march early because they received threats of an armed person waiting for them along the route.