A statue of
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...
, is located in the Sunken Garden of
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
's
Kensington Palace
Kensington Palace is a royal residence set in Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It has been a residence of the British royal family since the 17th century, and is currently the official L ...
. Commissioned by Diana's two sons
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
and
Harry
Harry may refer to:
TV shows
* ''Harry'' (American TV series), a 1987 American comedy series starring Alan Arkin
* ''Harry'' (British TV series), a 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons
* ''Harry'' (talk show), a 2016 American daytime talk show ...
on the 20th anniversary of
her death, the statue was designed and executed by sculptor
Ian Rank-Broadley
Ian Rank-Broadley FRBS (born 1952) is a British sculptor who has produced many acclaimed works, among which are several designs for British coinage and the memorial statue of Princess Diana at Kensington Palace in London unveiled on her 60th ...
and placed in the newly redesigned garden by Pip Morrison before being unveiled as a memorial to Diana on 1 July 2021, which would have been her 60th birthday.
Background
In 2017,
Diana's two sons commissioned a statue of their mother for Kensington Palace to commemorate the 20th anniversary of
her death.
In an official statement released by Kensington Palace, Prince William and Prince Harry said "Our mother touched so many lives. We hope the statue will help all those who visit Kensington Palace to reflect on her life and her legacy."
The money was raised through public donations, and a small committee consisting of close friends and advisers, including Diana's older sister,
Lady Sarah McCorquodale
Lady Elizabeth Sarah Lavinia McCorquodale (''née'' Spencer; born 19 March 1955) is one of the two older sisters of Diana, Princess of Wales, the other being Jane Fellowes, Baroness Fellowes.
Early life
Elizabeth Sarah Lavinia Spencer was born ...
, were said to be working on the project. At the time, the BBC's royal correspondent Peter Hunt wrote, "This national monument to the wife of one future king and the mother of another has been a long time coming. The Queen Mother statue was unveiled seven years after her death."
It was announced that
Ian Rank-Broadley
Ian Rank-Broadley FRBS (born 1952) is a British sculptor who has produced many acclaimed works, among which are several designs for British coinage and the memorial statue of Princess Diana at Kensington Palace in London unveiled on her 60th ...
had been commissioned to execute the statue of Diana. Its completion was initially expected in 2019.
Design
The statue was unveiled by William and Harry on 1 July 2021, on what would have been Diana's 60th birthday, and shows her surrounded by three children "who represent the universality and generational impact of the Princess's work." It is situated in the middle of one end of the Sunken Garden, newly redesigned by Pip Morrison. Work on redesigning the garden began in 2019; five gardeners planted over 4,000 individual flowers, including many
forget-me-not
''Myosotis'' ( ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Boraginaceae. The name comes from the Ancient Greek "mouse's ear", which the foliage is thought to resemble. In the northern hemisphere they are colloquially known as forget-me-no ...
s, Diana's favourite flower, along with "ballerina and blush noisette roses, white triumphator and china pink tulips, lavender, dahlias, and sweet peas".
A paving stone in front of the statue features an extract from the poem ''The Measure of a Man'' by Wallace Gallaher, previously used in the memorial service to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Diana's death in 2007.
Reception
In his review, the critic
Jonathan Jones noted its "aesthetic awfulness ... Flat, cautious realism softened by a vague attempt to be intimate make this a spiritless and characterless hunk of nonsense."
Lily Waddell in the ''
Evening Standard
The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format.
In October 2009, after be ...
'' called it "beautiful", and that it "captured the people's princess in action and her kind heart".
Tristram Fane Saunders from ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'' criticised the choice of poem for the paving stone, stating that the extract from "a poem that was already mediocre has been made worse" by disrupting the rhythm and turning "To measure the worth/ Of a man as a man" into "to measure the worth/ Of this woman as a woman".
See also
*
Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain
The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain is a memorial in London dedicated to Diana, Princess of Wales, who died in a car crash in 1997. It was designed to express Diana's spirit and love of children.
The fountain is located in the south ...
References
External links
*
{{Diana, Princess of Wales
2021 establishments in the United Kingdom
2021 sculptures
Black people in art
Bronze sculptures in England
Kensington Palace
Memorials to Diana, Princess of Wales
Monuments and memorials in London
Outdoor sculptures in London
Sculptures of children in the United Kingdom
Sculptures of women in the United Kingdom
Statues in London