In 2017, on the twentieth anniversary of Princess Diana’s death, her sons announced that they had commissioned a statue in her memory. It would stand in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, one of her favourite places.
By the time it was ready, much had changed. In 2020, Harry and Meghan stepped back from royal life and moved to California. In March 2021, their interview with Oprah Winfrey made explosive claims about the royal family. Reports said the brothers were barely speaking.
They met briefly at their grandfather Prince Philip’s funeral in April 2021, but the unveiling of their mother’s statue would be the first time they appeared together at an event of their own.
On 1 July 2021, the day Diana would have turned 60, the brothers stood side by side in the garden. The ceremony was small, with only a handful of guests, including Diana’s brother and sisters, because of Covid restrictions.
The statue, by the sculptor Ian Rank-Broadley, shows Diana in her later years, surrounded by three children, a symbol of the generations she helped through her charity work. The garden had been replanted with her favourite flowers, including forget-me-nots.
The brothers released a joint statement. They said that every day they wished their mother were still with them, and that they hoped the statue would be seen forever as a symbol of her life and her legacy. They thanked those who had helped make it possible.
Every camera watched them closely. They walked in together, smiled at the guests and, for a few moments, seemed at ease. Many people hoped it might be the start of a reconciliation.
But it was not to last. Within days, Harry was back in California. In the years that followed, the rift deepened with the Netflix series in 2022 and Harry’s memoir, Spare, in 2023.
Still, for one summer afternoon, Diana’s sons stood together in her favourite garden. It remains one of the most moving images of a family that has rarely found peace since her death.