The new statue of Lady Di reunites princes William and Henry
The princess would have turned 60 this Thursday. The bronze image, located in the gardens of Kensington Palace, in London, symbolizes the last days of Diana and appears surrounded by three children
Just a few minutes had passed since the public dissemination of the new statue of Lady Di when social networks began to argue about her. Princes Enrique and Guillermo met again to inaugurate the monument to her mother, who would have turned 60 this Thursday. It was an intimate event with very limited attendance, in the Sunken Garden of Kensington Palace. Sculptor Ian Rank-Broadley has managed to keep the works secret for four years. This artist is also responsible for the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II that can be seen on all the coins.
"The statue wants to reflect the warmth, elegance and energy of Diana, Princess of Wales, as well as her work and the impact she had on the lives of many people," Kensington Palace explained in an official statement. The princess, with a simple blouse, a pencil skirt and the short hair that characterized her, appears surrounded by three children of different races, to symbolize "the generational and universal impact of her tasks." Some users of social networks have criticized the lack of resemblance of the figure to the character, others have shown their rejection of that image so "let the children come to me" that the artist has sought. Much to the taste of the dozens of fans who, from the first hour, surrounded the palace with all kinds of memories, tributes and merchandise related to the princess of the town. A series of oil portraits scattered around the gate made Rank-Broadley's work an example of extreme hyper-realism by comparison. The restrictions due to covid-19, the family's desire for the act to be very intimate, and the appropriation by the media of a story that no longer unleashes the mass hysteria that could be seen when the princess died, and in the Days later, the television cameras concentrated around the palace have attracted more attention than the number of onlookers gathered.
If the first focus of curiosity was the statue itself, the second — and perhaps the most anticipated — was the reunion of the two brothers, Guillermo and Enrique, who had not met since the funeral of their grandfather, the Duke. Edinburgh, on April 17. Every time Lady Di's children face each other, speculations about the possible start of a reconciliation are unleashed. Some commentators wanted to see her on their joint walk outside of St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. Shortly after, the family historian and author of the book Battle of Brothers, Robert Lacey, claimed in the Daily Mail, citing witnesses to the meeting, that the meeting ended with a new heated discussion. "Every day, we would like her to continue with us, and our hope is that this statue is seen as a symbol of her life and her legacy," Guillermo and Enrique said in a joint statement. "We remember her love, her strength and her personality, qualities that made her a force for good throughout the world, improving the lives of countless people," they added.
Both have come alone. They were not accompanied by Harry's wife, Meghan Markle, nor William's, Kate Middleton. Neither the queen nor their father, Charles of England, have attended. It has been practically an act of the Spencer family. There were Lady Di's siblings, Charles Spencer, Sarah McCorquodale, and Jane Fellowes; the sculptor, Rank-Broadley, and the landscaper responsible for redesigning Diana's favorite garden when she lived in Kensington, Pip Morrison. 200 roses of five varieties, 100 forget-me-nots, 300 tulips and 500 lavender plants, among other species, to create a new space that will be accessible to the public starting this Friday.
As anticipated by the experts that populate the British tabloids and televisions, Enrique and Guillermo have exhibited during the event, which has not been broadcast live, a “professionalism” studied to avoid any gesture that could be misinterpreted. Although the closeness and warmth between the two, even when removing the green cloth that covered the statue, was inversely proportional to the affection with which the children clinging to the bronze Diana the children she held with her arms. In front of the monument, engraved in stone, you could read the same verse by Albert Schweitzer that was recited in 2017, during the 20th anniversary of the death of the princess: “These are the units of measurement of the value of a woman as a woman, to margin of its origin. Not what was her position, but if she had a heart. And how she interpreted the role that God wanted to assign her ”.
