Princess Diana statue commissioned by Prince William and Prince Harry will be installed in the Sunken Garden of Kensington Palace next year on what would have been their mother’s 60th birthday, palace announces
- Prince Harry and Prince William released statement about Princess Diana statue
- Project, to commemorate their mother, will be installed in the Sunken Garden of Kensington Palace on 1st July 2021, which would have been her 60th birthday
- The statue was commissioned to mark the twentieth anniversary of her death
Prince William and Prince Harry have released a joint statement to offer an update on the statue commissioned to honour their late mother, Princess Diana – just days before the 23rd anniversary of her death.
The statement on behalf of the Duke of Sussex and Duke of Cambridge issued by Kensington Palace read: ‘The statue that Prince William and Prince Harry have commissioned to commemorate their mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, will be installed next year on what would have been her 60th birthday.’
The statue was commissioned to mark the twentieth anniversary of Princess Diana’s death and recognise her positive impact in the UK and around the world.
It will be installed in the Sunken Garden of Kensington Palace on 1st July 2021, marking The Princess’s 60th birthday.
Pictured, Prince William, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Duchess of Sussex attend a service marking the centenary of WW1 armistice at Westminster Abbey on November 11, 2018 in London
Princess Diana with her sons Prince William and Prince Harry at Wetherby School on September 12, 1989 in London
The princes hope that the statue will help all those who visit Kensington Palace to reflect on their mother’s life and her legacy.
The statue’s sculptor, Ian Rank-Broadley, is most recognised for his depiction of the Queen, which has appeared on all coins in the UK and Commonwealth since 1998.
He also designed a gold coin marking the Queen’s diamond jubilee in 2012.
While the design stages of the statue have progressed since it was first announced three years ago, its installation has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The princess loved to walk in the palace gardens and would often stop to chat to the staff. Pictured, the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace
Princess Diana died at the age of 36 when the car she was travelling in crashed in a Paris tunnel on August 31, 1997.
Announcing the project in 2017, William and Harry said: ‘It has been 20 years since our mother’s death and the time is right to recognise her positive impact in the UK and around the world with a permanent statue.’
The Sunken Garden, where the statue will be placed, was created and laid out in 1909 by historian Ernest Law and designed to replicate the perfect picture, visually identical from all sides.
Although members of the public cannot walk amongst the flowers, they are able to view them at close range from an arched arbour of red-twigged lime known as The Cradle Walk, because of the perambulator-pushing Edwardian nannies who used to throng up and down it.
The garden contains a number of perennials – such as burgundy roses and box balls – as well as four towering palm trees – Trachycarpus Fortunei – which were planted in the 1980s, shortly after Diana moved into the palace as a young bride.
Although she wasn’t a keen horticulturalist herself, the princess loved to walk in the palace gardens and would often stop to chat to the staff.