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Diana - news
Diana
Dies In Car Crash - news report 31 August 2020
Diana
- a desktop documentary
Memorials at Kensington Palace
2001
Diana
- timeline
Diana - biography
Row
over Diana fountain continues -
16 July 2020
Two years of agonising over the proposals of over 100 artists, and
then endless arguements over which of the two shortlisted sculpures
should be chosen, and still no decision. Last ditch plans to rescue
the process came to nothing after a meeting last night at the Department
of Culture, Media and Sport last night recommended that Culture
Secretary Tessa Jowell seek 'an appropriate way forward'.
This latest chapter in the story comes as a blow
to Rosa Monckton, the close friend of the princesses who favoured
a the work of an American landscape architect Kathryn Gustafson
over a more contemporary design by the former Turner prize winning
artist Anish Kapoor. Rosa Monckton thought she had won the battle
for her favoured work in February when she took the decision as
chairperson of the voting panel to vote twice, thus swinging the
vote in Gustafson's favour.
The decision was sent to the Department of Culture,
Media and Sport for approval, but after hearing reports from other
members of the original voting panel, decided against allowing the
decision. The ruling effectively backs-up their contention that
the voting procedure was deeply flawed.
The government had originally promised that the
£3 million sculpture would be finished in time for the sixth
anniversary of Diana's death in August 2003. It is now unlikely
the Kensington Garden's sculpture will be ready in time , which
ever one is finally chosen.
Diana
Musical Dramatises Her Search For Love - 05/10/01
The Guardian reports that a new German musical about the life of
Princess Diana will tell the story of her search for love. The
show will be called Lady Di - Diana - A Smile Charms the World.
Calling the production a musical memorial to the
princess, producer Karl-Heinz Stracke said in Frankfurt it is meant
to be a modern-day fairytale. The cast of characters also includes
Prince Charles, his lover Camilla Parker-Bowles and Dodi Al-Fayed,
Diana's friend who was killed with her in the car crash in Paris
on August 31,1997.
Scriptwriter Thomas Fuehrer said: "The piece is
not black and white, but shows Diana, Camilla and Charles as individuals
searching for love.
"All three characters develop more independence
throughout the piece."
The show, which has already cost £700,000 to produce,
is to have its world premiere on November 10 in the west German
town of Saarbrueken. Mr Stracke hopes the show will attract people
from nearby France and the Benelux countries.
Mr Stracke said he was inspired to do the production
because Diana's life was such a powerful story of love, an element
that had been forgotten in the tragedy of her death.
Mr Fuehrer said: "It doesn't take place in a fantasy
world, like most musicals ... but is grounded in reality and only
in song and dance drifts into the magical world"
While the piece ends with the car crash in Paris,
he said it leaves open whether her death was an accident or murder.
Diana's
Dresses Come Home - 04/09/01
A collection of dresses which belonged to Diana, Princess of Wales
will go on permanent display in Kensington Palace from Spring of
next year.
The heart of the collection are 14 couture dresses
by British designers owned by a Floridian self-made millionairess.
Maureen Roach bought the gowns at a charity auction just two months
before Diana's death in 1997. Although she intended to keep the
dresses as a 'sound business investment', Diana's death changed
her mind.
The collection includes creations by Victor Edelstein,
Zandra Rhodes, Bruce Oldfield, and the Princesses favourity Catherine
Walker. The collection also includes the famous off the shoulder
black dress which the Princess took to the floor with John Travolta
at a White House Reception in 1985.
Another dress, by Catherine Walker, harks back to
the 18th Century in its design and was worn to the London premiere
of the film Steel Magnolias.
The gowns have been exhibited all over the world
in aid of charities supported by the Princess.
Anniversary
of Diana's Death Passes Without Ceremony -
31/08/01
The fourth anniversary of the death of Princess Diana is being marked
privately by her sons William and Harry.
The teenage princes and Prince Charles will remember
her in their own way, said St James's Palace. Charles
is finishing his autumn holiday at Birkhall on the Balmoral estates
in Scotland, and William is understood to be in Scotland too.
As in the two previous years, there are no official
plans to commemorate the day Diana died in a Paris car crash in
1997.
But Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed, whose son Dodi
was killed with her, has chosen to mark the anniversary by continuing
his battle to prove their deaths were no accident. Mr Al Fayed put
together a video presentation for the press in Washington, US, saying
he was in no doubt that the deaths were a result of murder with
racism at the core and setting out his allegations in more detail.
Princess
Diana Exhibition Open - 01/07/01
An exhibition commemorating the life and work of Princess Diana
reopened at her family's ancestral estate Sunday, on what would
have been her 40th birthday.
Earl Spencer opened a new three-room exhibition
at Althorp dedicated to the charitable fund set up in his sister's
name. Visitors to the estate can also see the island where Diana's
remains lie and tour a museum that chronicles her life.
``I do find the anniversaries particularly difficult,
as do all our family,'' Spencer said late last week as he prepared
to open the museum at the estate 70 miles northwest of London for
its fourth summer season. ``The fact that she would have been 40
has added to the poignancy this year and I just hope we are doing
the best we can for her without having her around any more,'' he
said.
Princess Diana was 36 when she was killed in a high-speed
car crash in Paris in August 1997. To mark her birthday, children
from London's Brompton Hospital lay flowers at the gates of Kensington
Palace, the royal mansion where Diana used to live.
After Diana's death, her brother converted an 18th-century
stable block at Althorp - the family home since 1508 - into a museum.
It is open each year for two months ending Aug. 30, the day before
the anniversary of her death. On display is a wide and personal
range of artifacts, including the Spencer family tiara, the frothy
silk dress Diana wore for her 1981 wedding to Prince Charles- complete
with 25-foot train - and the musical score for ``Candle in the Wind,''
which Elton John rewrote and performed at her funeral.
The latest addition is an exhibition about the work
of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, which has given $56
million to 250 charities in the last four years. Spencer paid a
glowing tribute to Diana's sons, Princes William and Harry, and
said they had grown to be young men of whom their mother would be
extremely proud.
``They are coping very well. I think everyone can
see that,'' he said. ``I was just hoping they would turn out as
their mother would have wanted them to turn out. They have certainly
done that.''
Fountain
to Remember Diana - 29/06/01
Plans for a new fountain to commemorate Princess Diana have been
announced. The memorial fountain will be built in the beautiful
surrounding of Hyde Park beside the Serpentine.
Diana's close friend Rosa Monckton, who is head
of the committee set up to advise on the location and design of
a memorial, said: "Diana liked to walk here and I think would have
approved of the location."
It is being paid for through public funds, partly
met by the sale of official commemorative coins. Earl Spencer has
also endorsed the fountain, which is due to be completed by summer
2003 and will be decided by a competition of water engineers, architects,
artists and ecologists.
It will not incorporate a statue or any figurative
representation of Diana.
Earl Spencer
speaks about Diana Funeral- 12/06/01
On ITV's Tonight programme, Earl Spencer speaks for the first time
about the funeral of his sister, Diana, Princess of Wales.
In an interview to be aired on Thursday 14/06/01,
the earl says that he still vividly remembers the procession from
Kensington Palace to Westminster Abbey in 1997, which he describes
as the ‘worst experience’ of his life.
He said: ‘Just walking behind
my sister’s body to Westminster Abbey, thinking about the boys (Princes
William and Harry) – I think this was also so horrendous and so
public – and to have to keep your eyes straight ahead and not look
at either side. I can still hear the horses' hooves, the grinding
of the gun carriage and the crunch of our steps. People were screaming
and bellowing.’
He added: 'I think when I saw her coffin on the
day of the funeral on the gun carriage – the shock of seeing that
and by that time it was all just so public – it was all just so
appalling. That walk – it was just a nightmare, really. That was
the worst experience of my life.'
Earl Spencer has given a number of interviews in
the last week, although the Tonight show is thought to be the most
shocking of them. The programme will also reveal previously unseen
footage of Diana discovered at Althorp, the Spencer family home.
Diana
Vs Mother Teresa -14/03/01
Lewisham council will have to decide what name a South London road
will be called, after two rival camps are battling it out to name
the road after Princess Diana and Mother Teresa. Sydenham residents
want the street - built to serve a shopping centre - to honour Diana.
But some officials at Lewisham Council, which will make the decision,
are firmly backing the Mother Teresa option because of the area's
strong links with India. They are said to feel that Diana Road would
not be appropriate for Lewisham. The council will reveal the winner
in April.
One suggestion, made by a schoolchild, has already been ruled out.
The youngster wanted it to be called 'Just Another Road'.
Diana Could
Have Been Saved - 12/03/01
In a new book, pioneering heart surgeon Christiaan Barnard claims
that Princess Diana could have been saved if she had been taken
to hospital earlier after the Paris car crash.
In "50 Ways to a Healthy Heart" Barnard says, "My
opinion is that they made a mistake in not rushing her to hospital
quicker because her bleeding could only be stopped by surgery".
In Barnard's opinion if she had been taken to hospital
immediately instead of being cared for at the scene of the crash
for more than an hour she could have survived. "I think she could
have been saved because, according to the report which I have seen,
she died of internal bleeding. The injury which caused the bleeding
was to a vein which doesn't bleed particularly quickly. In fact,
it bleeds rather slowly".
The Princess suffered a heart attack at the crash
scene and was taken to hospital unconscious and under artificial
respiration. At 2.10am, two hours after the crash occurred she suffered
a second heart attack and then received large doses of adrenalin
to keep her heart beating.
Following surgery her heart was massaged by hand
to keep it beating. Her torn vein was stitched and the internal
bleeding was controlled. Finally the Princess received electric-therapy
in an attempt to keep her heart beating. When that failed she was
pronounced dead at 4am.
Kevin &
Diana Film Plans Revealed - 27/02/01
Kevin Costner has abandoned plans to make a sequel to his hit film
The Bodyguard, which was to be based on the idea of an assassination
attempt on Princess Diana.
The initial idea was thought of before Diana's death
in 1997, Costner had hoped that the princess herself might play
a role in the film, though I doubt very much she would have done
so. The idea was reworked following Diana's death, but has finally
been scrapped.
Costner said: "We were never going to sensationalise
her life or make her look foolish. We wanted her to look good. "But
it is hard to go back to the project without having her still in
mind." So I think it will probably stay on the shelf, sad though
that may be."
Earl
Spencer Plans Diana Memorabilia Sale - 16/02/01
Earl Spencer, the brother of the late Diana, Princess of Wales,
is planning a clear-out of Althorp. Among the many items to be sold
off are toys that the Princess played with in her childhood.
Furniture, porcelain and an art collection acquired
by 20 generations of the family will also be up for sale.
The auction, which is hoping to raise £2 million,
will be held in a marquee in the grounds of the house where Diana
is buried.
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