By the time of her death, Princess Diana was divorced, stripped of her HRH title and on the outs with her former family.
So when it came time for her burial, Diana did not join other members of the House of Windsor in being interred at St George's Chapel.
Instead, her brother Charles Spencer decided that her final resting place should be Althorp Park, her family's sprawling estate.
Earl Spencer wanted to give his sister the privacy she was never afforded in life, burying her on an island in the middle of a lake.
Wikimedia Commons: Simon Ledingham
)Members of the public are barred from visiting and it is surrounded by trees planted by William and Harry, as well as white roses and water lilies.
While it sounds serene, the location was controversial to some of those who knew Diana.
"It was inappropriate and disrespectful. I knew it was not what Diana would have wanted," her former butler Paul Burrell said.
"With that act, her brother was depriving the princess of her proper status in life — a status of which she was proud."
When Diana's former chef had the opportunity to go and visit the lake 17 years after her death, he was horrified to find it overgrown with algae. The trees and bushes on the island, he said, were an overgrown mess.
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"Even the memorial with blistered paint looked more like a 'tatty old garden shed at the bottom of the garden' than a shrine to the most photographed woman in the world," he wrote on his blog.
In 2016, to mark the 20th anniversary of Diana's death, Earl Spencer announced a multi-million-dollar plan to revamp the estate, including his sister's final resting place.
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The struggle to memorialise a complicated figure
Beloved by the public and lauded for her charity work, the complexity of Diana's life is no small task to capture.
Controversy has surrounded several London memorials created in tribute to her over the years.
Wikimedia Commons: Mark Ahsmann
)When the Diana Memorial Playground at Kensington Palace was opened on June 30, 2000, for example, no royal was present.
And years later, when a Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park in honour of Diana was announced, the design — a stream that cascades, swirls and bubbles into a "calm" pool at the bottom — drew mixed feelings from her family and members of the public.
Parts of the fountain are calm and serene, and others are bumpy, which the sculpture's American designer, Kathryn Gustafson, said mirrored Diana's life.
Wikimedia Commons: Reinhold Moller
)While some loved its unconventionalism, others, including Diana's mother, thought it "lacked grandeur".
It was eventually opened by Queen Elizabeth II in July 2004 in a large ceremony but that didn't mark the end of the controversy.
Within its first few months, there were three falls at the fountain and the pumps used to bubble the stream were blocked by fallen leaves. It was closed for a period after the heavy flow of water resulted in a "bog".
Seventeen years later, however, the fountain has recovered from its early hiccups.
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Occasionally people are seen playing and laughing in the water, something the memorial's namesake — who, according to her sons, enjoyed having fun — probably would have approved of.
The 'right time' to recognise Diana's impact
As children, Prince William and Prince Harry watched on as controversy surrounded the building of the fountain, according to BBC correspondent Peter Hunt.
Reuters
)Perhaps that was in part why the two sons sought to give their mother a more fitting memorial more than a decade later.
In a rare joint statement in January 2017, the pair commissioned a statue to honour their late mother, reflecting that now was the right time to recognise her "positive impact in the UK and around the world".
The memorial would help "all those who visit Kensington Palace to reflect on her life and her legacy".
It appeared as if, on the 20th anniversary of her death, the two brothers were taking control of how she was remembered.
As well as commissioning a statue, Prince William and Prince Harry featured in an ITV documentary later that year offering a rare glimpse into their personal relationship with Diana.
Reuters
)In their words, she was a "naughty" parent who smuggled them sweets. A "total kid through and through", who understood the "real life outside of palace walls".
But four years after providing the other side of Diana "from close family friends you might not have heard before," their efforts may now be overshadowed by another scandal: a "rift" between the two brothers.
Spectre of Diana continues to shape sons' images
Diana will once again be on the minds of Prince William and Prince Harry as they prepare to finally unveil her statue to the public on what would have been her 60th birthday.
AAP: John Redman
)But instead of working together, the two brothers are on "different paths". The unveiling will be the first time the brothers have seen each other since the funeral of their grandfather Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, in April.
Just a month prior, in a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, Prince Harry and Meghan revealed what drove them to step away from their duties and move to another country.
Meghan, struggling with royal life and media pressure, had asked The Firm for help. When she didn't get it, Prince Harry worried that history was repeating itself:
"The clicking of cameras and the flash of cameras makes my blood boil. It makes me angry. It takes me back to what happened to my mum, what I experienced as a kid," he told Winfrey in the documentary.
The Princess of Wales died when Prince William and Prince Harry were aged just 15 and 12 years old.
According to associate professor of English at Flinders University Giselle Bastin, whose research focuses on histories about the British royal family, Prince Harry "closely aligns his story as a royal prince with Diana's life in the royal family".
Reuters: Dylan Martinez
)"He often references the parallels between his life with the media and his role as a royal prince with his mother's experiences," she told the ABC.
Dr Bastin said that like Diana, Prince Harry had also made his frustration with The Firm's lack of appetite for change widely known.
"His willingness to tackle head-on any ethical breaches by the media (and, he hints, by the royal family) with regards to its treatment of Meghan suggests that he is continuing his mother's promise to not go quietly,'" she said.
"Harry's 'rage against the machine' isn't as pronounced in William, who instead has chosen to pursue a path that Diana would also have advocated: stay inside the institution and carefully re-model it from within."
With Prince Harry now in quarantine, Kensington Palace has confirmed the two sons will come together for a "small event" in the gardens for the unveiling of the statue this week.
In honouring their mother, they may also find a chance to heal their bond as well.
Reuters: Hugh Peralta
)https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiaWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIxLTA2LTI3L3ByaW5jZS1oYXJyeS1hbmQtd2lsbGlhbS10by11bnZlaWwtcHJpbmNlc3MtZGlhbmEtc3RhdHVlLzEwMDIzMTUyNNIBKGh0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvYXJ0aWNsZS8xMDAyMzE1MjQ?oc=5
2021-06-26 19:48:21Z
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