Diana died on 31 August, 1997. It was a tragic and brutally abrupt end to a fairytale that went dreadfully wrong; the story of a Princess who did NOT live happily ever after. Since her death in the gloomy echoing concrete of that infamous Paris underpass, many attempts have been made to carve out a fitting repository for her memory. The projects have foundered on the rocks of acrimonious controversy and wrangling in the fog of endless committee meetings.
Each year the anniversary of the passing of the People's Princess reminds us of this sorry history of official incompetance and apathy. And lest we forget her, a tacky new book on Diana's troubled life is published at about this time each year by some once trusted retainer now prepared to peddle his questionable memories and besmirch her name for a Judas purse of silver.
The Diana memorial committee's long overdue final choice for a public memorial in Hyde Park was finally unveiled five years after her death, only to be spurned by most commentators as banal and bereft of inspiration - a typical product of committee thinking perhaps?
There is however one London memorial to Diana that I like to visit with my Lady when we are in town, as we were recently. This is the Diana Memorial Walkway though the Royal Parks. It links the London she loved to Kensington Palace, where she first lived as a Princess. It ends for us at the adjacent Peter Pan themed playground.
It is a floral route that passes by the ornate black and gold Palace gates festooned with children's tributes to Diana on each anniversary of her death and culminates in the happy laughter of children at play in the immensely popular Diana Memorial Playground. This is surely the most fitting memorial to a Princess who cared and did so much for children in need.
THE Diana Memorial Walk leads us on a fascinating trail through 500 years of Royal history; from Tudor King Henry VIII,(1509-47), to Diana's son, Prince William of Wales. He is destined to be the 60th Monarch to occupy the throne of Alfred the Great, England's 'Charlemagne', the warrior King who united Saxon England against the Danish Vikings and founded the British Navy in the process during his rule from 871-899.
