New Princess Diana Statue to Be Surrounded by Her Favorite Flowers

diana, princess of wales 1961 1997 visits a school for the deaf and dumb in yaoundé, cameroon, march 1990 she is wearing a pink and yellow suit by catherine walker and a philip somerville hat photo by jayne fincherprincess diana archivegetty images

(Image credit: Richard Davis)

published 1 July 2021

Prince Harry and Prince William will unveil a statue of Princess Diana in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace later today.
The garden has been redesigned with Diana in mind.
100 forget-me-nots, Diana's favorite flower, have been planted in the revamped garden.

Later today, Prince Harry and Prince William will unveil a new statue of Diana, Princess of Wales, on what would have been her 60th birthday. The statue will stand in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, one of the royal's favorite places at her former residence. And as the Guardian reports, the garden has been redesigned with Diana in mind.

Over 4,000 new flowers have been planted in the garden, including 100 forget-me-nots, Diana's favorite bloom (Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, included forget-me-nots in her book The Bench, as a tribute to her late mother-in-law.) The revamped garden also features 200 roses, 300 tulips, around 50 sweet peas, about 500 lavender plants, and around 100 dahlias, the Guardian reports. The redesign started in October 2019, with five gardeners working for a total of 1,000 hours.

london, england july 01 in this handout image supplied by kensington palace and released on july 01, 2021, the newly redesigned sunken garden is pictured at kensington palace in london, england a statue of diana, princess of wales will be unveiled in the sunken garden on july 01 photo by kensington palace via getty images — 'The redesigned Sunken Garden.'

Designer Pip Morrison told the press, "This has been a very special project to work on, as the Sunken Garden was a favourite place of Diana, Princess of Wales. We have worked carefully to ensure that the new layout and planting scheme compliments the statue, providing a calming place for people who visit Kensington Palace to remember the princess."

Graham Dillamore, Historic Royal Palaces' deputy head of gardens and estates, recalled, "While she was in residence at Kensington Palace, Diana, Princess of Wales regularly admired the changing floral displays in the Sunken Garden and would always stop to talk with me and the other gardeners who cared for it."

A royal source told the Guardian that today's statue unveiling will be "a small event and a very personal moment for the family," with plans dramatically downsized due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Garden designer Morrison will attend alongside William and Harry, as will sculptor Ian Rank-Broadley.

Emily Dixon is a British journalist who’s contributed to CNN, Teen Vogue, Time, Glamour, The Guardian, Wonderland, The Big Roundtable, Bust, and more, on everything from mental health to fashion to political activism to feminist zine collectives. She’s also a committed Beyoncé, Kacey Musgraves, and Tracee Ellis Ross fan, an enthusiastic but terrible ballet dancer, and a proud Geordie lass.