September 01, 2007	Saturday	Sha’aban 18, 1428

LONDON, Aug 31: Britain remembered princess Diana on Friday, with her sons William and Harry leading a royal tribute on the 10th anniversary of her death, while mourners adorned the gates of her former home with poems and flowers.

The two princes, who were just 15 and 12 when their mother died following a high-speed car crash in Paris, had spent months organising the main memorial service in London attended by senior royals and Diana’s friends and family.

Shadowing the event was the notable absence of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, the second wife of Prince Charles and the woman Diana described as the third person in her marriage

Camilla opted to spend the day at her private home in Wiltshire, south England, saying she did not want to “divert attention from the purpose of the occasion”.

Around 500 high-profile guests, including Queen Elizabeth II, Charles, Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his predecessor Tony Blair, attended the service at the Guards Chapel near Buckingham Palace.

Diana’s brother Earl Charles Spencer, whose funeral address 10 years ago had criticised the royal family, attended along with her two sisters, Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes.

Also present was Sir Elton John, who sang an adapted version of his song “Candle In The Wind” at the 1997 service.

William and Harry, now officers in the British army, will give readings, while Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, head of the Anglican church, has written two special prayers for the service.

Not attending the royal event was Mohamed Al Fayed, the father of Diana’s lover Dodi Fayed, who also died in the Paris car crash.

Al Fayed instead held a two-minute silence in the upmarket Harrods department store in London, which he owns and where he has erected a statue of Diana and Dodi holding hands and releasing a bird.

Staff and shoppers joined Fayed to pause in remembrance of the couple.

One million people took to the streets of London for the funeral and some say the episode changed the country. The tragedy also forced the royal family to present itself as a more open and inclusive institution.

The gates of Diana’s home, Kensington Palace in London, were festooned on Friday with flowers and poems left by admirers, a crowd of whom held their own memorial service, led by a retired priest.

Eileen Heathey, 56, from London, said Diana would be remembered for her compassion.

“That’s what I remember her for — her caring and understanding. She had a lot of hurt in her own life that made her do what she did,” she said.

Flowers also piled up at Althorp, Diana’s childhood home and final resting place, which broke with tradition by opening to the public for the anniversary.

Kensington Palace is also hosting an exhibition in her memory, as is London’s National Portrait Gallery.

And the BBC is re-screening her funeral in full on a digital channel on Saturday.—AFP