A true understanding of self involves an acceptance that we are a part of a community, a society of variant opinion to be respected. The truth for “I” is my outlook on the matter and how I am touched by the experience.

Diana: a Celebration

Clarence House raised the curtain on “Althorp” with the announcement of Prince Charles’ wedding to long-time lover Camilla Parker Bowels scheduled for 8 April (This date was changed to 9 April because of Pope John Paul’s funeral). The breaking news flashed back a windy, rainy day on 19 August 2004, when I visited Althorp for the exhibition “Diana: a Celebration”.

Wet and shivering, I queued beside old and young people, behind a wrought iron ornamental gate to buy an entrance ticket. The idle moments were focused on a wide landscape with magnificent trees and a distant view of a mansion set like a jewel in a park and garden, appearing to be huge and impressive. As I tread the grounds, I felt the throbbing of the house’s soul and the ardour to reach the beloved residence, where the fairy princess spent a simple life as an ordinary little girl and a home that sheltered her short maidenhood in the family circle.

The history of Althorp is the history of a family – “The Spencers” who had lived and died here for 20 generations. In April 1992, Charles, Viscount Althorp, became Ninth Earl Spencer. A godson of Her Majesty the Queen, he was also one of her Pages of Honour in the 1970s. Since the tragic death of Diana, Princess of Wales, Althorp has become a house and park known across the world. Before, one heard of this most classic of English stately homes, on account of its setting, and its art contents.

My visit coincided with the seventh anniversary of the tragic event. The dark shadow of the catastrophe spread its wings on the gardens and parks dotted with an influx of visitors proceeding to the House to view in solemn silence ‘Diana: a Celebration’.

The exhibition, set up by the family, portrays a chronicle of her living years. The award-winning exhibition, located in six rooms, depicts the life and work of Diana. There are audio-visual displays in four of the rooms.

The exhibits include family photographs, childhood letters, school reports, tap shoes, a hostess book that documented a dinner party at Althorp dated 27 November 1977 for H.M Queen of Denmark – the first adult meeting of Lady Diana Spencer and HRH Prince Charles, and a card from Prince Charles: “To my tap-dancing partner” dating a year prior marriage.

Among personal commemorative exhibits are the famous bridal gown and the Spencer tiara worn at her wedding, in the form of stylised flowers decorated with diamonds in silver settings mounted in gold. It was to be a romantic evocation of the Victorian era, with its beautiful crinoline skirt and use of layers and flounces. The 25-foot train, the longest ever designed for a royal wedding, added a touch of drama to the outfit and accessories; and the finish spelt an image of freshness and romance.

The designers – Elizabeth and David Emanuel – made miniatures of the wedding dress and bridesmaids dress, perfect in every detail, and presented them to the Prince and Princess as a wedding present. They are now affectionately displayed in “a celebration” and valued with high regard by her admirers. On her wedding day Diana’s youth and beauty inspired a great deal of affection and captured the heart of the nation. The event was simply referred to as the Royal Wedding. No wonder the 20-year-old fairy-tale princess became an international idol, photographed wherever she went!

Other attractions were Diana’s loved clothes; they were a passion and a public duty, as millions of people followed her as a fashion icon. Her wardrobe requirements were however complex: outfits needed for her duties as a member of the Royal Family, overseas trips, charity work and the many official functions and charity galas that required evening wear.

The Princess supported the British fashion, with its tradition of classic tailoring for day and romantic evening wear, clothes by Murray Arbeid, the Emanuels, Belville Sassoon, Catherine Walker, Bruce Oldfield and Gini Fratini. On attaining independence she turned to international designers: Versace, Valentino and Lacroix and to the French couture houses of Dior and Chanel. The effect was in the superb cut and materials worn with coordinated accessories.

The purple and the scarlet evening dresses, the cream and gold cocktail dress, etc. and the protective body armour and visor were all there for viewing. Diana was a tireless charity worker using her celebrity to campaign for the causes she believed in. One screen after another showed Diana fulfilling her mission to help the world, illustrating her high-profile figure working with the homeless, with HIV and AIDS sufferers, handshake with leprosy patients, the Children’s Hospital, meeting the untouchables (India) and the memorable encounter with Mother Teresa at the Hospice for the Dying in Calcutta.

A’ celebration to Diana’ screened the silent homecoming, the burial service, toned down by the next exposition highlighting a carpet of petals (the people’s flowers) dim-lit by a violet ray in harmony with an angelic musical poem. The exposition closes with the gravesite on the island in the Round Oval, as the Lake is known, enclosed by lime trees.

I was most impressed with the last room that showcased, from floor to ceiling, a sheer overwhelming number of books of condolence received from St James Palace that witnessed extraordinary queuing of people to write their own personal tribute, from all over the country – hospitals, schools, homes for the elderly, official governments and embassies, department stores and community centres, from all over the world.

Also exhibited were numerous letters and cards and simple exercise books with touching drawings and pictures from children. Extensive wealth of memorials from the four corners of the Earth is testimonial of her endearment by the public, and reveals the legacy of her celebrity status. They will be kept and treasured by the family!

‘Diana: A celebration’ terminated with a walk along the south of the “Round Oval Lake” by the summer house which is now dedicated to Diana, Princess of Wales, with a central silhouette in black marble upon white marble, and on the left a tablet with a quotation from Diana on her willingness to undertake charitable works, and on the right the conclusion of Earl Spencer’s Tribute at Westminster Abbey.

The urn monument standing on the island carved in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales reminiscent of the bereavement “interred here on 6 September 1997” will not fade, ever. Will today resurrect her glory?

Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund set up in September 1997, seeks to be a living memorial to a global humanitarian endowment and to continue, like the Princess, to reach out to people living on the margins and help them change their lives.

A wonderful day closed with an audio guided tour of the Spencer House; its collection of portraits particularly fine and famous as a record of a family, and other outstanding paintings by the names of Rubens, Van Dyck, Reynolds, Gainsborough which appeal to casual visitors. There is much which is distinguished in decorative carpets, candelabra, furniture, ceramics etc.

Nineteen rooms are open to visitors including some of the Spencer family’s private apartments. In the words of the Earl Spencer himself “I have aimed when scripting and recording this tour, to give a feel for Althorp as a family home, and not simply to describe its varied contents.”

It is therefore appropriate that she has returned to Althorp, to rest in peace, in the most beautiful of settings, where she is most truly in context.