You can't move in Hyde Park without bumping into some memorial to Princess Diana. That's because she used to live up at one end in Kensington Palace, looking winsome and being sick occasionally. There's a Princess Diana Memorial Walk which snakes its way through the park marked by raised studs in the footpath. There's a Princess Diana Memorial Playground which is full of pirate ships and wigwams (and really rather fantastic for any kids with an imagination). There's a Princess Diana Memorial Brick-Spiral-Thing outside the Serpentine Gallery, of which she was patron. And, as of today, there's the new Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, which looks like this:
The fountain is a grey stone oval the size of half a football pitch set into the grass beside the Serpentine. It's been built from 545 chunks of Cornish granite, each slab lovingly sculpted to fit together in a curving channel complete with every water feature Charlie Dimmock ever dreamed of. 100 litres of water per second will gush, cascade, bubble and babble down this liquid necklace from the top level (rear right of photo) to the pool at the bottom (lower left, where all the workmen's tools are lying). It wasn't bubbling when I was there at the weekend because there was no water in it, but it'll be bubbling today once the Queen's stood beside it and said how much she really quite liked Diana, honest.
The fountain's not quite as pastoral and idyllic as it looks. That turf is brand new and has yet to bed down. And what you can't see in the photo are the Lido tearooms to the left and the newly-tarmacked car park to the right, immediately beside the busy road that runs through the middle of the park. But I rather liked the fountain. Some have said that Diana deserved better than a mere 'puddle', but to me this giant paddling pool looks perfect for wading in, exploring and generally interacting with for many generations to come. It's for children, not for adults, and if I were five years old again I'd be in my element.
Meanwhile, just under a mile to the west, Diana's real shrine can be found outside the gates of Kensington Palace. Even seven years after her untimely death the railings are still festooned with laminated photographs, newspaper cuttings and cheap bouquets. It would have been Diana's 43rd birthday last week (she'd have been heavily into Botox by now, wouldn't she?) and the fresh birthday tributes pinned to the gates are the outpourings of the irrationally obsessed. Especially the poetry. I had to photograph a couple of the most toadying eulogies just to take in the sheer awfulness of them. Click here for one particularly verbose devoted dirge, and click on the extract below to read the full gobsmacking text of the following.
It was left to another mother talking to her children outside the Palace gates to come up with the perfect summary of Diana's life. She was trying to explain who the princess was to her three daughters, none of whom had even been born while Diana was alive. And Mummy came up with the following. "She was a nice lady who died." And yes that's all she was, in the right place with the right face at the right time, just as flawed as the rest of us and probably more so. At least we got a couple of heirs, a few less landmines and a nice paddling pool out of her. I hope that one day the cult of Diana can finally be laid to rest. And if not, well, at least the poetry's a scream.
Meanwhile, just under a mile to the west, Diana's real shrine can be found outside the gates of Kensington Palace. Even seven years after her untimely death the railings are still festooned with laminated photographs, newspaper cuttings and cheap bouquets. It would have been Diana's 43rd birthday last week (she'd have been heavily into Botox by now, wouldn't she?) and the fresh birthday tributes pinned to the gates are the outpourings of the irrationally obsessed. Especially the poetry. I had to photograph a couple of the most toadying eulogies just to take in the sheer awfulness of them. Click here for one particularly verbose devoted dirge, and click on the extract below to read the full gobsmacking text of the following.
Today you would have been 43It was left to another mother talking to her children outside the Palace gates to come up with the perfect summary of Diana's life. She was trying to explain who the princess was to her three daughters, none of whom had even been born while Diana was alive. And Mummy came up with the following. "She was a nice lady who died." And yes that's all she was, in the right place with the right face at the right time, just as flawed as the rest of us and probably more so. At least we got a couple of heirs, a few less landmines and a nice paddling pool out of her. I hope that one day the cult of Diana can finally be laid to rest. And if not, well, at least the poetry's a scream.
