Queen opens memorial to Diana
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-07-07 08:36

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II has opened a national memorial to Princess Diana in London's Hyde Park on Tuesday following years of controversy and budget overruns.

The queen inspects the Diana memorial fountain with minister Tessa Jowell and Prince Charles. [AP]

The ￡3.6 million ($6.6 million) water feature has drawn both praise and criticism for its design, which is based on a large oval stone ring.

In her speech, the queen acknowledged that creating the memorial had been "no easy task" and congratulated the designers and builders for their work.

"To present a likeness seemed at best unnecessary for someone whose image continues to exert such a fascination the world over. To find some other way to capture her spirit has been the challenge.

"I believe that you have given the park, at the very heart of our capital city that Diana knew so well, a highly original memorial which captures something of the essence of a remarkable human being.

"I think Diana would have enjoyed it, and I believe she would want all of us to do so too," the queen said.

It was the queen's first official speech about Diana since immediately after her death in 1997.

She acknowledged the "difficult times" in the princess' life but said "memories mellow with the passing of the years."

"I cannot forget ... the Diana who made such an impact on our lives. I remember especially the happiness she gave to my two grandsons," the queen said, referring to Princes William and Harry, Diana's sons with her former husband, Prince Charles.

The queen paid tribute to Diana's "wider legacy" and her ability "not only to touch people's lives but to change them."

She also sought to use the occasion to heal a rift with Diana's family, the Spencers.

The ceremony marked the first time the two families have appeared together in public since Diana's brother, Earl Spencer, launched a bitter attack on the royals in his eulogy at the princess' funeral at Westminster Abbey.

The queen made a particular mention of Earl Spencer as she began her speech, and said she was opening the memorial "on behalf of Charles, William, Harry and all my family and of all the Spencer family with us today."

Earlier the two families had greeted each other warmly, with Earl Spencer bowing for both the queen and Prince Charles.

"It seems this is some sort of public reconciliation," said CNN's Paula Hancocks.

Dogged by controversy

The memorial -- by American landscape architect Kathryn Gustafson -- has been called chic and dignified, although others have criticized it as looking like a storm drain or being too understated for a memorial to a princess.

Gustafson's memorial has been beset by squabbles and rising costs.

Water pours into the granite structure from the top of a hill before running in two directions. It passes over a variety of features, including air bubbles, steps and curves, before meeting at the end in a reflecting pool.

"It isn't grand at all, although one of the designers and one of the close friends of Diana said it isn't grand because she wasn't a grand person," Hancocks said.

"One friend who worked closely with Diana on many charity projects said they didn't want this memorial to become like a spectacle, considering Diana was somewhat of a spectacle during her life."

"The design itself is supposed to mirror the different cycles of Diana's life. The choppy water is supposed to symbolize her marriage and also her public life and the turmoil she did have to go through in certain moments.

Gustafson's memorial has been beset by squabbles and rising costs.

"It collects in a calm pool, which is supposed to represent the peace and the tranquility that she discovered at the end of her life.

"Also the fact that she loved children so much, it will become somewhat of a children's paddle pool at the bottom. It's anti-slip on the bottom, so children will actually be able to paddle in this pool," Hancocks said.

After the ceremony, William and Harry went on a short walkabout with their father to meet members of the public, as did the queen and her husband, Prince Philip.

Absent was Diana's former butler Paul Burrell, who wrote a book about his life as her servant.

He said he would not attend for fear that the occasion would be overshadowed by the spectacle of him meeting William and Harry, who accused him of a "cold and overt betrayal" of their mother. (Full story)

The fountain was open to a limited number of people following the ceremony, and organizers expected lengthy queues. About 1,000 spectators gathered for the ceremony, many of them hanging Union Jacks on the police barriers.

The memorial will fully open to the public Wednesday.

The memorial has been dogged by controversy since Diana's death in a car crash in Paris seven years ago.

Organizers have battled with red tape and squabbled over the most fitting tribute.

The project overran its budget by ￡600,000 ($1.1 million), and delays forced planners to abandon the original August 2003 opening date -- which would have marked the sixth anniversary of the princess's death.

The committee set up to oversee the project couldn't agree on a design, and the government stepped in to approve Gustafson's plan.

At one point, Diana's friend Rosa Monckton, who headed the committee, described the situation as a "fiasco."

Close

Group ceremony for 102 couples in Qingdao Fashion show Planet Saturn

Today's Top News     Top Life News
Taxes, fees no longer to target farmers         Edwards joins Kerry's bid to unseat Bush         Bird flu case found after 4-month gap         US slaps extra duties on shrimp from China         China regrets Koizumi's defiant words         Rice to visit Beijing this week	Queen opens memorial to Diana       Grand Canal queues for World Heritage status       'Traffic lights' set for migrating Tibetan antelopes       Rock 'n' roll's true birthday debate begins       Topless marchers protest Spain bullfight       The new market for old properties