On July 1, 2021, Princess Diana would have turned 60 and two decades after her tragic death in a car accident near the end of summer 1997, she still holds an exalted place on the altar of the most admired people in the world, her status secure as a style icon — as is her legacy of having forever changed the British monarchy.
As if Diana had never left the scene, the media continues to publish articles about her and new developments linked to her complicated story.
Among the recent are the renewed scandal a few weeks ago related to the famous interview she gave to BBC’s Panorama and the means used by the journalist, Martin Bashir, to obtain it.
‘Royal Style In The Making,’ a new exhibition in Kensington Palace, has as a centerpiece Diana’s iconic wedding dress with its 25-foot-long train created by David and Elizabeth Emmanuel, which has not been seen for 25 years and is already attracting hordes of her admirers.
The unveiling of her new statue
Then there is the outburst of media speculation surrounding the unveiling of the new statue designed by artist Ian Rank-Broadley that was commissioned by her sons William, 39, and Harry, 36, who have been overseeing the project since it was first announced in 2017.
On July 1, William and Harry will be reunited after several months of separation and multiple rumors of a rift between them that seem to have grown since Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, moved to the U.S.
To the reported tensions between the brothers, some complications have been added to the unveiling of the statue, which originally had been planned as a grand ceremony with more than 100 guests, including friends and former staff of Princess Diana.
That event has been greatly reduced due to the Royal House’s concerns with health measures resulting from the Delta-variant-triggered rebound of Covid-19 in the United Kingdom.
According to British media, only the two estranged brothers and some members of the Spencer family will be attending. Prince Charles won’t be present due to "regrettable memories," according to The Times.
Meanwhile, having been the most-photographed woman in the world, Diana continues to “stare back at us, frozen in time,” as Andrew Marr wrote in The Times, wondering “had she survived to see her seventh decade, what would her life and the lives of her sons have looked like in the Britain she changed forever?”
Here, some shots that stand the test of time:
On July 1, 1997, the Princess of Wales turned 36. and what became her last birthday was a low key celebration. It was a year after her divorce with Prince Charles had been finalized and she was in the process of rebuilding her life.
She was showered with flowers, receiving over 90 bouquets and assisted to a charity fundraising gala at London’s Tate Gallery wearing a spectacular black floor-length beaded gown she had gotten that morning as a gift from fashion designer Jacques Azagury.
Diana captured global attention when she walked through a live minefield in 1997. Among the impacts of that visit was the signing of an international treaty to outlaw the weapons, which took place a year after she died.
On November 20, 1995, Princess Diana broke ranks with the British royal family. The then-35-year-old decided to tell her side of the story during a BBC One Panorama interview with Martin Bashir.
In June this year, the BBC issued an "unconditional apology" over the deceptive way it obtained the interview with the princess.
One of her most famous looks was known as “the Revenge Dress” that she wore at a 1994 dinner at the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens after the televised admission of adultery by her husband, Charles, Prince of Wales.
The shot of her sitting alone in front of a monument to love, India’s Taj Mahal, captured the disintegration of her marriage.
While Prince Charles met business leaders, made two speeches and launched a new charity, she sat in isolation on a bench in front of the beautiful building. Asked about the princess, he replied: "Work it out for yourself."
An iconic wedding dress epitomized a little girl’s fairytale princess wedding dress. It had a 25-foot train and was designed by David and Elizabeth Emmanuel.
