10th anniversary of Princess Diana's death marked
Updated: 2007-08-31 20:25
Princess Diana's family solemnly marked the 10th anniversary of her death Friday, with her younger son eulogizing her as "the best mother in the world."
 Britain's Princes William (R) and Harry, sons of the late Princess Diana, arrive for the Service of Thanksgiving for the Life of Diana at the Guards' Chapel at Wellington Barracks in London, August 31, 2007. [Reuters] |
The bishop of London used his sermon at a memorial service to call for an end to the sniping between Diana's fans and detractors, and a priest who has led an annual remembrance said it may now be time to let go.
"To lose a parent so suddenly at such a young age, as others have experienced, is indescribably shocking and sad," Prince Harry said at the memorial service at the Guards' Chapel near Buckingham Palace.
"It was an event which changed our lives forever, as it must have done for everyone who lost someone that night," said Harry, who was 12 when Diana died.
"But what is far more important to us now and into the future is that we remember our mother as she would wish to be remembered, as she was: fun-loving, generous, down to earth and entirely genuine," he said.
Diana's admirers, many of them suspicious of the cause of her death and resentful of Prince Charles, tied bouquets, poems and portraits to the gates of her former home.
Friday was a day for broadcasting video snippets of her wedding and funeral, for rehashing the rights and wrongs of her failed marriage.
 John Loughrey places a rose above a poster in the gates outside Kensington Palace, the former home of Princess Diana, ahead of today's memorial service on Friday August 31, 2007. [AP] |
It was one more day for dredging up questions about how Diana came to die in a car crash in Paris with her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, and for the Daily Telegraph to publish an essay explaining "why we were right to weep for Diana."
For Harry and his older brother, Prince William, it was a simple tribute to an adored mother.
"To us, just two loving children, she was quite simply the best mother in the world," Harry said. "When she was alive, we completely took for granted her unrivaled love of life, laughter, fun and folly.
"She was our guardian, friend and protector," Harry said. "She never once allowed her unfaltering love for us to go unspoken or undemonstrated."
Harry and William were credited with organizing the noontime service, but Charles was blamed by many for the furor over an invitation to his current wife.
Camilla, whom Diana blamed for breaking up her marriage, decided to stay home. That decision followed quickly after the Mail on Sunday published a commentary by Diana's friend, Rosa Monckton, saying the princess would have been "astonished" that Camilla was invited.
"Actually, she would have been astonished to learn that her former husband had married his longtime mistress," Monckton wrote.
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