Princess Diana Statue Unveiled on Her 60th Birthday

After years of anticipation, the statue of Princess Diana has finally been unveiled.

The project was commissioned in 2017 by her sons, Prince William and Harry, to honour the 20th anniversary of her death.

However, it was only revealed recently to mark what would have been Diana's 60th birthday.

The sculpture portrays Diana with short, cropped hair, with her hands delicately placed on the shoulders of two children, one holding her hand, while another is situated behind her.

Although the children are not named, they represent the universality and generational impact of the princess's work.

Kensington Palace stated that the statue aimed to reflect Diana's warmth, elegance, and energy, as well as her character and compassion.

Diana was renowned for her philanthropy and was a patron to more than 100 charities during her lifetime.

She became known as the Queen of Hearts thanks to her dedication to charitable causes, which ranged from campaigning against landmines to helping those affected by the AIDS crisis.

At the unveiling ceremony, William and Harry made no speeches, with the statue standing as their testimony to their mother.

Sculptor Ian Rank-Broadley's artwork was erected in the palace's sunken garden, one of Diana's favourite places at the palace.

The space has been redesigned over the past two years and features more than 4,000 individual flowers, including forget-me-nots, which were adored by the princess.

With Diana's siblings watching, William and Harry pulled away a green cloth covering the monument, which will forever remind visitors to her former home of Kensington Palace about its most famous resident.

They stood either side of the statue, looking at the memorial, with Harry resting his hands on his hips.

William and Harry arrived a few minutes early for the unveiling and stopped in a shrub-lined path outside the garden to chat with the Chairman of the Statue Committee, Jamie Lowther Pinkerton.

Despite their troubled relationship, they mirrored each other as they entered the garden where the statue is positioned, walking with their left hands touching their stomachs.

The event was attended by just 13 guests due to Covid restrictions.

Members of the statue committee, who were tasked in 2017 with commissioning and privately raising funds for the creation of the statue, stood nearby.

Harry and William chatted informally with the guests, including the Sunken Gardens designer Pip Morrison, Kensington Palace head gardener Gary James, and Graham Dillamore, deputy head of gardens and estates at Historic Royal Palaces.

In front of the statue is a paving stone engraved with an extract inspired by the poem The Measure of a Man.

These are the units to measure the worth of this woman, as a woman regardless of birth, not what was her station, but had she a heart?

How did she play her God-given part?

William and Harry appeared to be in good spirits throughout the event, laughing and joking with their guests and appearing at ease in each other's company.

At the end of the ceremony, the brothers issued a statement thanking Ian Rank Broadley, Pip Morrison, and their teams for their outstanding work, the friends and donors who helped make this happen, and all those around the world who keep their mother's memory alive.

Diana, Princess of Wales, was an icon who touched the lives of people right around the world.

It has been a privilege to work alongside Prince William and Prince Harry on this statue, which commemorates her life.

We wanted to capture her warmth and humanity while showcasing the impact she had across generations.

We hope that people will enjoy visiting the statue and the sunken garden and taking a moment to remember the princess.