BRITAIN:Britain's Prince Harry yesterday gave the clearest indication to date that the spirit of his mother lives on, delivering a perfectly judged speech of sentiment and seriousness to a memorial service to mark the anniversary of her death.
Ten years to the day since the Princess of Wales was killed in a Paris car crash, her younger son addressed a gathering that included Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, Elton John and Bryan Adams - but not the Duchess of Cornwall - to speak of "the best mother in the world", a "guardian, friend and protector" to her two sons who "never once allowed her unfaltering love for us to go unspoken or undemonstrated".
"William and I can separate life into two parts," said the 22-year-old prince. "There were those years when we were blessed with the physical presence beside us of both our mother and father. And then there are the 10 years since our mother's death" - an "indescribably shocking and sad" event that had "changed our lives forever".
But as several hundred listened outside the Guards Chapel at Wellington Barracks, a few hundred metres from Buckingham Palace, Harry was careful to acknowledge the loss felt by many others, a populist instinct of which his mother would have been envious. "Put simply," said the prince, "she made us and so many other people happy." That she continues to do so for some people was evident as Diana diehards gathered outside the service, and particularly at Kensington Palace, her former home, to lay flowers, affix photographs and poems, and take a great many photographs.
What was most striking, however, was their relative scarcity. By mid-morning there were only a few dozen bouquets at the gates of the palace, scene of the vast sea of tributes in the days after the princess's death.
The years have done little to dim the reverence of the faithful, but at times they appeared to be outnumbered by photographers and camera crews. On the chime of 11, Fr Frank Julian Gelli, the former curate at a nearby parish church, found himself swamped by cameras as he led an impromptu 15-minute service in front of the gates. A small circle around him prayed and sang I Vow to Thee My Country and Goodbye England's Rose.
"Our task is to keep the memory of Diana alive," said Margaret Funnell, co-founder of the Diana Circle UK which had organised the service.
"Our next quest is to keep Camilla from the throne of England. We don't want her for the queen. This is our queen."
An hour later, at noon, the crowd on Birdcage Walk had swelled slightly as the guests, who included Cliff Richard, Richard Branson and representatives of several charities supported by the late princess, gathered for the service. Without video screens the crowd could only strain to hear the events.
Michelle Debenham from Orpington, Kent, who shared a birthday with the princess, was struggling with tears.
"She was just such a special person. A beautiful person who was very troubled, and just as she seemed to be getting her life back it was taken from her."
Diana and boyfriend Dodi Fayed were killed when the Mercedes they were travelling in hit a pillar in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris. They were being pursued by paparazzi after leaving the Ritz Hotel.
Their driver, Henri Paul, who was also killed, was drunk and was driving at high speed. Bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones survived the crash.
Dodi's father, Mohamed al-Fayed, who was not invited to the London service, held a two-minute silence in honour of his son and the Princess of Wales at his Harrods store in Knightsbridge, London yesterday. -