OHMYGOSSIP — Mourners broke down in tears as they gathered at Princess Diana’s former home on the 20th anniversary of her death.
People from all over the world arrived at Kensington Palace in their droves on Thursday (31.08.17) to pay their respects to the late princess, who died in Paris on August 31, 1997 following a car crash in the French capital, and many couldn’t hold back their emotions.
Several burst into tears as they approached the railings of the royal residence, and many put up pictures of the late Princess of Wales.
Some even brought champagne to celebrate her life and ate a Diana-decorated cake as they swapped stories about the royal, who was 36 when she passed away.
Others brought handwritten tributes and candles, while priest Frank Gelli held an informal a service outside the Palace’s gates and sprinkled his pop-up congregation with holy water.
A message on the official Kensington Palace Twitter account read: “The Duke and Prince Harry are grateful for the many flowers, letters and messages they have received about their Mother.(sic)”
Diana’s sons, Princes William and Harry, who were 15 and 12 when she died, visited the Palace gates on Wednesday (30.08.17) to read the tributes, and royal superfan Terry Hutt, 82, who has visited the royal residence on August 31 every year for 20 years, praised their attitude.
He is quoted by ITV as saying: “You can think of it as happiness and you can think of it as sadness. Today is sadness, but yesterday William and Harry were here and that brought a lot of happiness.
“Diana was someone special. She’s got a couple of good sons and one of them will become king.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Prince Charles was desperate to see Princess Diana’s wedding dress before their big day.
The former royal couple tied the knot in July 1981 at London’s St Paul’s Cathedral with the late Princess of Wales wearing a dress made by fashion designer David Emanuel, and the fashion designer admitted Charles used to often ask him about the garment before the nuptials.
He said: “I’d run into the Prince of Wales a few times and he said, ‘Well what’s happening’ and I said, ‘Well you can’t see it.’
“He said, ‘Well what’s it going to be like?’ And I said, ‘You’ll have to wait.’ ”
Charles did approve of the garment though as David admitted Diana rang to thank him and revealed the Royal Family were big fans of the outfit.
He added to The Sun newspaper: “On her wedding day she had all the world’s eyes on her and I was just leaving my studio after being at Buckingham Palace for most of the day and the phone goes and she goes, ‘Hi, it’s me! I just wanted to say it was great and thank you so much and everyone loved it and Charles loved it and the Queen loved it.’ ”
Recently released footage of Diana revealed she only met Charles 13 times before their big day and claimed he was all over her “like a bad rash” when they met for a second time, but wasn’t always keen to see her.
She said: “He would ring me up every day and then not contact me for weeks, he wasn’t very consistent in his courtship.”
Sadly, Charles and Diana divorced in August 1996, 15 years after they tied the knot, just one year before she died in a car crash in Paris aged 36.

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OHMYGOSSIP — David Emanuel finds it “extraordinary” he never met Paul Burrell in the “hundreds of times” he visited Kensington Palace.
The fashion designer regularly saw his friend Princess Diana and made her 1981 wedding dress, but has questioned her former butler regularly being described as the late Princess of Wales’ “rock” because he didn’t even see him around at the royal residence on one occasion.
Speaking about Paul talking about Diana after her 1997 death, David said: “There’s always a periphery of people who do that. One of the shattering things that I find going back and forth hundreds of times to Kensington Palace, I never met this guy called Paul Burrell. Never met him.
“I find that rather extraordinary, but he seemed to be quite verbal and he was her ‘rock’ and ‘blah blah blah.’
“But I just find it extraordinary the hundreds of times I went, he was never there.”
David also hit out at some of the recent documentaries about the princess in the lead up to the 20th anniversary of her death yesterday (31.08.17), insisting some of the shows were “dreadful” because they didn’t focus on any of the “fun” Diana had.
He added to The Sun newspaper: “She was full of fun. I’ve seen all these documentaries now and some of them are dreadful.
“They’re missing the fun aspect. She was kind and generous, was full of life and had beautiful eyes. And she was fun, I remember one sitting I did at Buckingham Palace and she said, ‘Well how are you getting back?’ and I said, ‘Well I’ll call a cab’.”
Paul also recently slammed Diana doc ‘Diana: In Her Own Words’ for “raiding the diary” of the late princess after some of her private recordings were broadcast.
He said: “I think those tapes were made privately for the Princess’ own use … I don’t think they should be broadcast. It’s almost like raiding her diary. That’s wrong … It can only upset [her sons] Prince William and Prince Harry. I understand that there is a thirst for new information but I think it’s a step too far.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Sweden’s Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia have welcomed their second child into the world.
The 38-year-old royal – the second child of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia – and his wife are yet to release details such as the baby’s sex or weight, but confirmed the birth took place on Thursday (31.08.17) and that both mother and their newborn are “doing well”.
A statement posted on the royal family’s Instagram page on behalf of the couple read: “On Thursday, 31 August at 11.24 am, Princess Sofia welcomed a healthy and prosperous child at Danderyd Hospital. Both mother and child are doing well. (sic)”
Carl and Sofia already have 16-month-old son Prince Alexander and said they couldn’t be happier to become parents for a second time when they announced the exciting news in March.
At the time, they said: “We are happy to announce that we are expecting a child, a sibling to Prince Alexander. We are looking forward to welcoming a new little member to our family.”
Sofia, 32, previously admitted becoming a parent had changed her “whole life”.
Speaking soon after giving birth of Alexander , she said: “Being a mother is amazing. It changes your whole life.”
And Carl added: “The first time does take some adjustment. But it’s still absolutely amazing and wonderful.”
Meanwhile, Sofia revealed Alexander is “very sweet and well-behaved” and sleeps “pretty well” at night.
The prince married the former reality star in Stockholm in June 2015, and after a lavish honeymoon in Fiji, the brunette beauty fell pregnant with the couple’s first child.
During his wedding speech, the prince recalled to guests how he had driven to see Sofia’s father, who works in a job centre, to ask permission to propose and thanked her family for their support.
He also hailed the former model as his “role model” and praised the citizens of Sweden for accepting their union.
He said: “We never chose the tough way – it chose us.
“You fill my life with love and happiness. Today we prove that love conquers all.
“Sofia – you’ve enriched our family. Your family has received me with equally open arms. I’ve got another family.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Former members of staff and celebrities are set to pay tribute to Princess Diana at East London’s Mildmay Mission Hospital later today (31.08.17).
The British royal died in Paris, France, on August 31 1997 and to mark the 20th anniversary of her passing, former members of staff, actress Linda Robson, and dancer Wayne Sleep will all attend a service at the hospital, where the princess regularly visited during her lifetime.
Princes William and Harry will be marking the anniversary in private, but members of the public are also expected to visit Kensington Palace, where Princess Diana lived for more than a decade.
Terry, who had met the princess through his charity work, has already laid roses for her outside the gates of the Palace and he has praised the royal.
Speaking to the BBC, Terry shared: “It was a privilege [to meet her].
“I was under Waterloo Bridge, giving out blankets and food to the homeless. I don’t know what made her come, but she looked down at us all and we were all amazed, just like a little angel came out.”
Terry also praised the princess for finding time for everyone during her fundraising efforts.
He said: “She spoke to us all. She was very sweet. It was unbelievable. Everybody gave her a smile and she gave them a lovely smile too.”
On Wednesday (30.08.17), Princes William and Harry spent time reading messages and cards left at the gates of Kensington Palace in memory of their mother.

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OHMYGOSSIP — Princess Charlotte “loves” to dance.
The two year-old royal’s passion for dancing came to light on Wednesday (30.08.17), when her mother, the Duchess of Cambridge, revealed the detail to English National Ballet director Tamara Rojo during a visit to the Princess Diana memorial garden at Kensington Palace.
During their visit to the White Garden, the Duchess revealed her daughter has taken up dance lessons, saying: “She absolutely loves it.”
Prince William also shared a lengthy conversation with Tamara about Princess Diana’s well-known passion for dancing.
The British royal recalled: “She loved dancing, she was a fantastic dancer.
“We’ve been going through her music collection recently and there’s some quite eclectic stuff in there. She was elated by the skill.”
Meanwhile, Prince William and Duchess Catherine will be full-time working royals from next week when Prince George starts school.
The four-year-old prince will soon begin his education at Thomas’s School in Battersea, south-west London, while Prince Harry will return to work following his three-week holiday in Africa with girlfriend Meghan Markle.
A series of tweets on the official Kensington Palace Twitter account recently read: “The coming months will see The Duke & Duchess & Prince Harry undertake a busy autumn programme as TRH return to royal duties & engagements.
“Over the course of the autumn, TRH will visit a number of communities, charities and organisations across the UK.
“TRH will continue to highlight the important work of their patronages, & collectively focus on supporting issues surrounding mental health. (sic)”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Prince William and Prince Harry returned to their mother’s former home ahead of the 20th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death.
The iconic royal died in Paris, France, on August 31 after she was involved in a car accident and to mark the occasion, her sons read messages and cards left at the gates of Kensington Palace and spoke to members of the public on Wednesday (30.08.17).
The British royals chatted to representatives of the eight charities closes to their mothers’ heart, with Harry asking them: “Tell me a story about my mum.”
Tamara Rojo, the director of the English National Ballet, told William and Harry that a number of productions were only staged because of Diana’s fundraising efforts.
And in response to the praise of his mother, Prince William said: “We’ve got plenty of pictures.
“I remember her showing me ballet shoes she had been given and she was so proud of them. She loved dancing, she was a fantastic dancer.”
Earlier this month, meanwhile, Prince William revealed he didn’t want his mother’s death to “break” him.
The 35-year-old royal was devastated when Princess Diana passed away when he was just 15, but he was determined not to let her untimely passing affect him so badly that it would ruin her “legacy”.
He recently said: “When you have something so traumatic as the death of your mother when you’re 15, as very sadly many people have experienced and no one wants to experience – it’ll either make or break you. And I wouldn’t let it break me. I wanted it to make me.
“I wanted her to be proud of the person I’d become. I didn’t want her legacy to be William or Harry were completely and utterly devastated by it and all the hard work and the love she put into us when we were younger, for it to go to waste.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Meghan Markle looked “giddy” on her return from vacation.
The ‘Suits’ actress has recently been on holiday with Prince Harry in Africa, and Meghan apparently appeared to be in good spirits as she and the British royal boarded the Heathrow express train en route to central London.
An eyewitness told E! News: “The pair wore baseball caps and sat in the first class carriage, reading magazines and chatting quietly.
“[Meghan] was smiley and giddy looking.”
However, the insider also noted that Meghan was not wearing an engagement ring, as had previously been speculated.
By contrast, former royal chef Darren McGrady recently said Prince Harry could be set to propose to Meghan this December.
The 32-year-old royal has been in a relationship with the actress since last year, and although some insiders thought an engagement would come this month when Meghan celebrated her 36th birthday, Darren has offered an alternative date.
He said: “I really do think they would have been engaged by now. But Princess Diana’s 20th anniversary this month in August, they can’t trump that.
“And then November is the Queen and Prince Philip’s platinum wedding anniversary so they can’t trump that either, whereas December they can announce the engagement and they’d be free to marry next year; I think that’s what’s going to happen.”
The former chef – who served Princess Diana and her two sons Harry and William – added that if the flame-haired royal does pop the question in December, it would mean the couple would be able to join the royal family for their traditional Christmas celebrations.

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OHMYGOSSIP — The British Royal Family were jealous of Princess Diana’s popularity at the time of her death, according to her ex-personal protection officer.
Ken Wharfe, a former Met Police officer, has accused the royals of being envious of Diana’s popularity with the British public in 1997, but he believes her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, have carried on her legacy.
He explained: “We now know Diana did change and modernise, whether we like it or not.
“What we see now today with William and Harry, in the way that they now conduct themselves as two leading royal figures, is so different from what royalty was in the 1980s.
“They are literally cardboard cut-outs of their mother’s work, and 20 years on we are now speaking about their mother more than ever before.”
Ken has written a book, titled ‘Guarding Diana’, about his overseas travels with the Princess.
And he claims her efforts to modernise the family has been reflected in her royal engagements, as well as in how she raised William and Harry.
Ken shared: “She would take them to Kensington High Street, take them to the cinema. They were great regulars of Bill Wyman’s Sticky Fingers restaurant.”
And of the Princess’ popularity, Ken added: “The problem with Diana in this family is they could not deal with her popularity, they couldn’t cope with it – basically they were jealous.
“They couldn’t do it themselves and they wouldn’t acknowledge just how good she was at it, this was a problem.
“Their attitude was ‘this has been going on for a few hundred years lets not wreck it’ – they weren’t moving with the times and the couldn’t honestly bring it round to say ‘we’ve got somebody here who is changing its direction’.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Princess Anne has worked more days than any other Royal Family member this year.
The Princess Royal – who is patron to more than 300 charities – has undertaken 114 engagements since the start of the year, more than her brother Prince Charles who has managed 93, followed by Prince Philip, who has now retired from royal duties, with 52.
Charles’ wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, has worked 51 days, one more than her mother-in-law Queen Elizabeth.
But the younger royals have come under fire for not working quite as much as their older relatives.
Duchess Catherine has worked just 39 days this year, while her husband Prince William and his brother Prince Harry have completed 46 each.
However, Kensington Palace officials have defended William 35, Catherine, 35, and Harry, 32.
A spokesman is quoted by the Daily Express newspaper as saying the trio will attend “a number of away days and visits to communities, charities and organisations across the UK, as well as engagements and visits overseas.”
Catherine has been spending time with her son Prince George, four – who will start school next week – and two-year-old daughter Princess Charlotte, while William was working part-time as an air ambulance pilot until last month.
William will meet the England Under-20 football team at Kensington Palace next week.
A series of tweets on the official Kensington Palace Twitter account read: “On the 7th, The Duke, President of @FA, will host a reception for the Under-20 England football team at Kensington Palace.
“HRH invited the team to a reception after their outstanding victory against Venezuela winning the U-20 World Cup Final earlier this summer.(sic)”
Catherine and Harry’s engagements are also being increased from next week.
The tweets added: “Starting next week on Monday, Prince Harry will visit organisations in Manchester which work in different ways to support the community.
“The Duchess will also visit the @family_action run Hornsey Road Children’s Centre to see the facilities supporting parents & young children. (sic)”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Prince William and Duchess Catherine will be full-time working royals from next week when Prince George starts school.
The four-year-old prince will begin his education at Thomas’s School in Battersea, south-west London, next Thursday (07.09.17) meaning his parents will see their royal duties increased, and Prince Harry will return to work following his three-week holiday in Africa with girlfriend Meghan Markle.
A series of tweets on the official Kensington Palace Twitter account read: “The coming months will see The Duke & Duchess & Prince Harry undertake a busy autumn programme as TRH return to royal duties & engagements.
“Over the course of the autumn, TRH will visit a number of communities, charities and organisations across the UK.
“TRH will continue to highlight the important work of their patronages, & collectively focus on supporting issues surrounding mental health. (sic)”
William and Catherine have moved back to their official royal residence, London’s Kensington Palace after residing at Anmer Hall on the Queen’s Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, eastern England, for the past few years.
It is a busy time coming up for the royal couple – who also have two-year-old daughter Princess Charlotte – and it looks set to be a fast-paced introduction into education for George as a recent report claimed his new school is “slightly chaotic”.
A post about the education establishment on The Good Schools Guide reads: “A big, busy, slightly chaotic school for cosmopolitan parents who want their children to have the best English education money can buy. That is what they want and, to a large degree, that is what they get.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — A firefighter who gave Princess Diana CPR at the scene of her tragic crash thought she would be survive.
Xavier Gourmelon, 50, heard the late princess’ final words when he tended to her in the back of the car following a crash in Paris in August 1997, from which she died aged 36, and he admits she didn’t seem to have many “significant” injuries.
He said: “The car was in a mess and we just dealt with it like any road accident. We got straight to work to see who needed help and who was alive. Diana said to me, ‘My God, what’s happened?’
“The woman, who I later found out was Princess Diana, was on the floor in the back. She was moving very slightly and I could see she was alive.
“I could see she had a slight injury to her right shoulder but, other than that, there was nothing significant. There was no blood on her at all.
“I held her hand and told her to be calm and keep still, I said I was there to help and reassured her.
“I gave her some oxygen and my team and I stayed by her side as she was taken out of the car. It was very quick because we didn’t have to cut any of the wreckage.”
The firefighter – who has since left the Paris service after 22 years – then had to give her CPR to save her life after she suffered a cardiac arrest but when she started breathing again Xavier thought she would survive.
He added to The Sun newspaper: “To be honest I thought she would live. As far as I knew when she was in the ambulance she was alive and I expected her to live. But I found out later she had died in hospital. It was very upsetting.
“I know now that there were serious internal injuries, but the whole episode is still very much in my mind. And the memory of that night will stay with me forever.
“I had no idea then that it was Princess Diana. It was only when she had been put into the ambulance that one of the paramedics told me it was her.”
Diana and her lover Dodi Fayed were both killed in the crash along with their driver Henri Paul, but her bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, the only one of the quartet wearing a seatbelt, survived.
Following a six-month hearing, it was decided in 2008 that the tragic smash was caused by a combination of Henri – who had been drinking – and the driving of the following vehicles, a group of paparazzi photographers.

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OHMYGOSSIP — Paul Burrell still has doubts over Princess Diana’s tragic car crash and wonders why she made the fateful journey in Paris.
The former butler of the late Princess of Wales – who, along with her lover Dodi Fayed, died as a result of a smash in the French capital city in August 1997 – still questions why she would’ve wanted to travel across Paris that night, and doesn’t understand why she didn’t wear a seat belt.
He said: “It is strange to me to think that the princess would want to cross Paris at midnight knowing her so well, knowing she’d rather be tucked up in bed at eight o’clock at night, and not wanting to go out.
“If you look at the footage of her in the elevator, going down in the lift, that’s a woman who is saying, ‘I don’t really want to go out, why can’t we stay here?’
“I just don’t understand what that journey was about.
“She always wore a seatbelt. Always. Every time she left Kensington Palace I would lean over her and literally plug it in and say, ‘There you are.’ It was a routine we always went through. She always wore a seatbelt. Now, why didn’t she wear a seatbelt that night?”
Diana and Dodi took a car from Paris’ Ritz Hotel that fateful night but only made it just a few miles down the road, and Paul, 59, believes had he been in Paris with the princess she would never have stepped foot in the car that night.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror newspaper near the Pont de l’Alma tunnel, where Diana was killed, in his first visit to the area, he added: “Sitting here at the Ritz in Paris, I feel that I had I been here with her, she might have stayed in her suite and not gone out.
“When I saw her in Paris for the last time my over-riding thought was, ‘Why wasn’t I here?’
“I had a long conversation with her and I wasn’t very happy with her. I remember saying to her, ‘Why didn’t you take me with you? Why did you leave me behind’.”
Diana’s driver Henri Paul – who had been drinking – also died in the crash, but her bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, who was the only one wearing a seatbelt, was the sole survivor.

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OHMYGOSSIP — Princes William and Harry will visit a memorial garden to pay tribute to their late mother.
The royal siblings and Duchess Catherine, William’s wife, will head to The White Garden at Kensington Palace later today (30.08.17) on the eve of the 20th anniversary of their late mum Princess Diana’s death.
A spokeswoman for Kensington Palace told the BBC: “The engagement will allow the princes to pay tribute to the life and work of their mother.”
William, Harry and Catherine will be met by representatives from several charities supported by Diana – who died in a Paris car crash in August 1997 aged 36 – including Great Ormond Street Hospital and the Leprosy Mission.
The White Garden was planted at the Palace, Diana’s former home, to mark 20 years since the tragic event, and one of the inspirations for the plants was the white “Elvis” Catherine Walker dress the Princess of Wales wore.
William was just 15 at the time of his mum’s death and he recently admitted he didn’t want her passing to “break him”.
He said: “When you have something so traumatic as the death of your mother when you’re 15, as very sadly many people have experienced and no one wants to experience – it’ll either make or break you. And I wouldn’t let it break me. I wanted it to make me.
“I wanted her to be proud of the person I’d become. I didn’t want her legacy to be William or Harry were completely and utterly devastated by it and all the hard work and the love she put into us when we were younger, for it to go to waste.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Author Jilly Cooper wants to take Prince Charles out for a meal to help him cope with Princess Diana’s anniversary.
Charles’ ex-wife died in a Paris car crash on August 31, 1997 and as the anniversary approaches, Jilly revealed she feels sorry for Charles and would like to offer him some support.
Speaking to the Daily Mail’s Weekend magazine, about her perfect day, Jilly said: “Dinner would be at The Ivy with Lady Annabel Goldsmith and Paul O’Grady, who are as bats as me about dogs.
“I’d also invite Prince Charles because I think he’s having a bad time over this Diana stuff. I’d have scallops and champagne. I’d end the day drinking on the terrace at home with friends and watching the Pegasus constellation gallop across the sky.”
The 68-year-old royal has seen his popularity plummet in recent weeks as the anniversary of the death of Diana has brought up old footage of the late Princess discussing their strained relationship.
However, their youngest son Prince Harry, 32, has defended his father by saying he was there for both Harry and his brother Prince William at the time of their mother’s tragic death.
Prince Harry said: “One of the hardest things for a parent to have to do is to tell your children that your other parent has died. How you deal with that, I don’t know. But, you know, he was there for us.
“He was the one out of two left and he tried to do his best to make sure that we were protected and looked after. But you know, he was going through the same grieving process as well.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Actress Tamsin Greig has paid tribute to Princess Diana.
The ‘Episodes’ star is one of a number of well-known people who have opened up about when they first heard about the shocking death of the royal in a Paris car crash on August 31, 1997.
Recalling that she only found out after passing a weeping woman in the street, Tamsin told the Radio Times magazine ahead of the 20th anniversary: “We thought something had happened to her family, because it seemed so personal. I felt amazed that we didn’t know.
“It was a deeply strange feeling and I remember watching people grieving and slowly starting to understand how shocking Diana’s death really was.”
News presenter Martyn Lewis was woken up and called into work by his bosses.
He remembered: “There was a dark grey suit, white shirt and black tie kept in a wardrobe at the BBC for occasions like this and that’s what I changed into to announce the news of her death…
“There was a moment I lost it for a brief few seconds. I felt myself start to go…
“It’s unlike anything I’ve ever done in that it was a six-and-a-half-hour stint that we couldn’t plan.
“There was no script for the first few hours, we had to fly by the seat of our pants.
“When I came off air at half past one in the afternoon I still felt full of adrenaline and nerves.
“The atmosphere in the newsroom was calm, although as I left I saw some secretaries had clearly been sobbing.”
And actress Gemma Jones was “very, very shocked”.
She said: “I was at home and switched the television on and heard the news.
“My elderly father was living with me so I went into his room to tell him and we sat and watched the TV for most of the morning. I had a small child at the time so I was very affected.”

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