Prince William and Prince Harry.Photo: Dominic Lipinski - WPA Pool/Getty
Seeing anewly unveiled statueofPrincess Dianaup close, as I was lucky to do last week, you can appreciate what her sonsPrince WilliamandPrince Harry, throughsculptor Ian Rank-Broadley, were trying to achieve.
The princess stands strong, at one end of theSunken Gardenwhere she loved ending her morning jog with a stroll and chat with the gardeners who were out there early in the day.
The princes wanted people to think about the woman they knew as a mother — but also as someone who had a special touch with children, and did so much for them. And that is clearly the legacy that they had in mind when helping to create the memorial.
Prince William and Prince Harry unveil a statue of their mother, Princess Diana, at Kensington Gardens.Alamy Stock Photo
For me, it initially conjured up the image of Diana at the kindergarten — the striking photograph taken before she was engaged toPrince Charles, with young children around her in a sunlit garden. But of course there are countless pictures of Diana, with her sons, or with children she met on her travels or on engagements around the U.K. The sculpture is, in fact, set later in her life.
The collection ofchildren gathered around her, though, is something that spanned all 16 years of her public life, a constant that William, 39, and Harry, 36, no doubt wanted to portray. Moreover, the boy scampishly appearing from behind her is no accident as the artist — who worked so closely with William and Harry — wanted to reflect some of the mischievousness that her boys adored and that appealed to the countless children she met.
Dominic Lipinski/WPA Pool/Shutterstock
Plenty of people have said it doesn’t “look” like the princess. Getting her exactly right would be a nearly impossible act to pull off. But it had to represent her, without being an avant garde interpretation. In hundreds of years time, people will have to look at her and say, “Yes, that’s Diana, Princess of Wales.”
The image I saw cast in bronze was most definitely of the woman I remember. I saw Diana several times but was lucky to be in the same room as her on two occasions — once relatively close. She was famously tall, of course, but that day, I always recall, her stature made her appear to tower above the guests at the reception. She was greeting people and chatting enthusiastically after a talk on landmines. At that point in life, she was happy, athletically toned from her dedication in the gym and striking out confidently on her own,
This was indeed the later period of her life; the time which the princes — aged just 15 and 13 when she died in 1997 — wanted to capture and likely the time they remember best. By then, she was separated, coming out of her unhappy marriage, a stronger woman with ideas and several missions to follow.
Prince Harry.DOMINIC LIPINSKI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
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The garden is a beautifully peaceful spot. Deputy Head Gardener at Historic Royal Palaces, Graham Dillamore says they moved the grass closer to the pond “to give a softer feel.” And he said in coming years, the plants are designed to “tumble down” over the edges of the raised borders. “Next year there will be even more flowers.”
And there will be even more visitors.
source: people.com
