Princess Diana statue unveiling brings together feuding Princes Harry and William
By Karla Adam,
Matt Dunham AP
LONDON —Britain’s Prince William and Prince Harry are expected to downplay their rift as they reunite for the unveiling of a statue of their late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, on what would have been her 60th birthday.
William and Harry have said they wanted a monument of their mother to “recognize her positive impact” and hope it will “help all those who visit Kensington Palace to reflect on her life and her legacy.”
London is not lacking in memorials to Diana, still revered as “the people’s princess.” There’s a playground at Kensington Palace, a fountain in nearby Hyde Park and a walkway at St. James’s Palace. The National Portrait Gallery’s collection includes more than 50 images of the photogenic royal.
This latest tribute was commissioned from sculptor Ian Rank-Broadley, whose portrait of Queen Elizabeth II appears on all British coins.
The statue has been installed in the newly redesigned Sunken Garden, one of Diana’s favorite places at her former home. The palace said the garden still features some of Diana’s best-loved flowers, including forget-me-nots. It’s also where Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, held their official engagement photo call.
From Friday onwards, the garden will be open to the public during the palace’s opening hours.
Henry Nicholls
Reuters
A box covers the statue of Diana installed in the Sunken Garden of Kensington Palace.
There has been much debate in Britain about what sort of statue would pay appropriate homage to Diana. Some art critics have objected to the idea of a work that is lifelike and traditional, arguing that it would betray Diana’s modern image. Feminist critics have said the commission should have gone to a female artist.
But many royal watchers are more curious about what the unveiling will reveal about the state of the royal family.
Prince Charles, Diana’s ex-husband, is in Scotland and won’t be among the small group of family and friends in attendance. The spouses of William and Harry will also be sitting this one out.
So all eyes will be on the two brothers. Royal watchers will no doubt pore over their body language for any signs of healing, as happened during the April funeral of their grandfather, Prince Philip. After the service, they were seen walking side-by-side, deep in conversation.
But many say reconciliation may be some time off.
Stefan Rousseau
PA Images/Getty Images
Sculptor Ian Rank-Broadley, who created the Diana statue, is also responsible for royal portraits on British coins, including this one celebrating the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.
William was 15 and Harry 12 when their mother died in a car accident in Paris in 1997. She was 36 years-old, the same age as Harry is now. William is 39.
When the royal brothers commissioned the statue, in 2017, their relationship was in a radically different place. They were neighbors: Harry lived in a cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace, and William and his family lived in the palace itself. Together, they promoted charities and in particular drew attention to the stigma surrounding mental health — something they continue to do, but on different platforms and in different countries, with Harry having given up royal responsibilities, and perks, and living in California.
In a March interview with Oprah Winfrey, Harry said, “I love William to bits,” but that their current relationship was one of “space.”
In that interview, Harry made a string of claims about the royal family, including allegations of racism. He also said his family cut him off financially and that his father and brother were “trapped” within their royal lives.
Richard Fitzwilliams, a royal commentator, wondered in an email to The Washington Post whether Harry’s recent willingness to speak publicly about his family might stand in the way of a rapprochement.
“How can the once inseparable brothers be reconciled, if at all? Who can say anything meaningful to Harry if it will immediately appear in the media thereafter?” Fitzwilliams wrote.
Hugo Vickers, a royal biographer, told The Post that chances of peace seem slim at the moment. “Any set of reconciliations he makes over here, he will have to explain when he gets home to his wife, won’t he?”
After Philip’s funeral, “we saw what looked like were signs of rapprochement,” Vickers said. But then “very shortly after, Prince Harry shot back to Los Angeles, and he started making some pretty disagreeable statements.”
On a recent podcast, Harry compared his formal royal life to a mixture of being on “The Truman Show” and living “in a zoo.”
Even apart from the tensions with his brother, Harry has spoken about how returning to Britain has often been difficult for him.
“For most of my life, I always felt worried, concerned, a little bit tense and uptight whenever I fly back into the U.K., whenever I fly back into London,” he said. “For me, London is a trigger because of what happened to my mom.”
Ahead of the unveiling, Harry quarantined at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor.
