London – Princess Diana is at rest, but the passions that swirled around her tempestuous marriage to Prince Charles are still evident as friends and family prepare to commemorate her life at a memorial service today.
The religious service, exactly 10 years after her death in a Paris car crash, has triggered fresh recriminations against Charles’ second wife. And the news media have closely watched to see who’s invited to the ceremony, who’s not coming and who wasn’t asked.
Emotions have quieted; there has been no repetition of the vast carpet of flowers laid outside Diana’s palace by grieving Britons. But memories of the glamorous “people’s princess” hold their grip on the public, remembrances of a woman who touched hearts, who suffered, who died.
Queen Elizabeth II will head the list of guests at the service in the Guards’ Chapel near Buckingham Palace. Charles’ wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, changed her mind about attending in the face of criticism from those who blame her for breaking up his marriage to Diana.
Media reports have described Camilla as being furious with Charles, and Charles as pointing to his sons as the instigators of the troublesome invitation to their stepmother, which she at first accepted.
Diana’s former butler, Paul Burrell, who has written two gossipy books about his years in her service, wasn’t invited. Nor was Patrick Jephson, the princess’ former private secretary, who also wrote two books about her.
Princes William and Harry, who have accused Burrell of a “cold and overt betrayal” of their mother, were among organizers of the event. They visited the chapel Thursday to make final preparations for the service.
Mohamed al Fayed, who accuses Prince Philip of masterminding a plot to kill Diana and his son Dodi Fayed, also wasn’t on the guest list. He plans two minutes of silence at Harrods, his department store.
Philip plans to attend today’s service, but the event is not listed on the diary of Princess Anne, who was known to have a strained relationship with her sister-in-law.
Sir Elton John was invited, but he won’t reprise his reworking of “Candle in the Wind,” which he performed at the funeral.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown and former Prime Minister John Major, who was in office when the royal marriage broke up, also were invited, as were more than 110 representatives of charities and other organizations Diana supported.
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair will attend. It was he, with his perfect political pitch, who coined the term “people’s princess” on the morning of Diana’s death.
“She was the people’s princess,” Blair said, “and that is how she will stay, how she will remain in our hearts and our memories forever.”
All the bridesmaids and page boys who participated in Charles and Diana’s lavish wedding at St. Paul’s Cathedral in 1981 have been invited to the memorial service. Other guests include Diana’s 12 godchildren.
