Diana Frances Spencer, Princess of Wales was a member of the British royal family.
In 1981, she became engaged to Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II. Their wedding took place at St. Paul’s Cathedral in 1981 and made her Princess of Wales.
The couple had two sons, William and Harry. Diana’s marriage to Charles underwent extramarital affairs which led to their separation in 1992 and the marriage ended in divorce in 1996.
Princess Diana died the next year in a car mishap in Paris, leading to extensive public mourning and global media attention.
On July 1, Prince William,39, and Prince Harry, 36, reunited to reveal the sculpture, which has been placed in Kensington Palace’s Sunken Gardens, surrounded by thousands of their late mother’s favorite flowers.
The statue that commemorates what would have been her 60th birthday stands in the Sunken Garden which was inspired by a 1993 Christmas card.
The monument features Diana wearing a knee-length pencil skirt, a chunky buckled waist belt, and an open-collared, front-pleated shirt. She is surrounded by three children, who “represent the universality and generational impact” of the princess.
Diana’s outfit is strikingly similar to one she wore on her 1993 Christmas Card with Prince William and Prince Harry, the first she sent out as a single parent after her separation from Prince Charles was announced in 1992.
The card shows Diana standing in the middle of the two boys, as Harry looked up at his mother, and she gazed down at William.
“The portrait and style of dress were based on the final period of her life as she gained confidence in her role as an ambassador for humanitarian causes and aims to convey her character and compassion,” an official statement said.
A photograph with Harry and William on the steps of the Marivent Palace from a summer holiday in Majorca in 1988, shows Diana wearing a red pencil skirt and three-quarter length white blouse.
On another event, during a trip to Egypt in 1992, Princess Diana wore a pale-blue pleated skirt highlighting the same thick pleated belt.
And a third example, from the same trip, shows her wearing a lemon-colored skirt and blouse as she walked with a boy she met on a visit to Cairo.
The sculpture likely took inspiration from several sources, but it certainly captures the spirit of Diana’s love for her own children, with her arms resting on Prince William’s and Prince Harry’s shoulders, and people from all walks of life.
The sculpture was commissioned by William and Harry in 2017 in memory of their mother and to mark the 20th anniversary of her death.
The brothers wanted the statue to recognize her positive impact around the world, and help future generations understand the significance of her place in history.
The unveiling took place at a small family event joined by The Princess’ siblings: Earl Spencer, The Lady Sarah McCorquodale, and The Lady Jane Fellowes, in addition to the Statue Committee, the sculptor Ian Rank-Broadley, garden designer Pip Morrison and Chair of Historic Royal Palaces, Rupert Gavin.
In the statue, Diana is surrounded by three children who represent the universality and generational impact of the Princess’s work. Beneath the statue is a plinth engraved with the Princess’s name and the date of the unveiling.
“The statue aims to reflect the warmth, elegance, and energy of Diana, Princess of Wales, in addition to her work and the impact she had on so many people,” the palace said.
In front of the statue is a pavement stone engraved which obtains the poem The Measure of A Man which was featured in the program for the 2007 memorial service for The Princess.
“Today, on what would have been our Mother’s 60th birthday, we remember her love, strength, and character — qualities that made her a force for good around the world, changing countless lives for the better,” William and Harry said in a joint statement. “Every day, we wish she were still with us, and our hope is that this statue will be seen forever as a symbol of her life and her legacy.”
“Thank you to Ian Rank-Broadley, Pip Morrison, and their teams for their outstanding work, to the friends and donors who helped make this happen, and to all those around the world who keep our mother’s memory alive.”
Ian Rank-Broadley, the sculptor who made the bronze statue said that the statue represents a “more confident” Princess Diana in later life, and it is meant to capture her “warmth, elegance, and energy.”
The garden was renamed “The White Garden” to mark the 20th anniversary of the demise of Princess of Wales in 2017. It has been planted with flowers in white and soft pastel colors, which took insight from items from The Princess’s wardrobe exhibited in the palace.
The new design for the garden by Pip Morrison maintains the historic structures within a simplified layout of deeper flower borders and a more generous lawn around the central pond to create a calmer and more reflective setting for the statue.
The planting design features several of The Princess’s favorite flowers, including forget-me-nots, as well as many other spring and summer blooms in different pastel shades.