A tribute to Diana, 'the people's princess', at Kensington Palace

Finally I have a moment to ‘breathe’, as it were, and can get back to writing my blog. I have had a great time getting to know more wonderful people, catching up with very dear friends I met on ‘Queen Mary 2’ and ‘Navigator of the Seas’, and seeing some amazing, memorable places. 

It is really hard to believe that 28 August was the 6-month anniversary since I left home. Gone in blink of an eye . . . 

In my last post I showed photos of Kensington Palace, which included a moving tribute to Diana posted with flowers on the front gate of the palace. Everywhere she is described as ‘the people's princess’, although in truth she came from one of the very wealthy, powerful families of England, not from humble origins. She earned that title because she was so human, and she cared about the ordinary people, the ill, the disconnected, the victims of conflict. 

The end of August marks 20 years since her death. I think this will be a very tough time for her two sons, not so much because they still grieve for the mother they loved so much, since they are finally being open about the heartache they have suffered all these years, which will help them heal, but more because I suspect they will finally hear the truth about their father and the love that he bore which eventually broke her marriage: “There are three people in this marriage.” 

I feel sorry for Charles in this too. He was basically forced to marry Diana because at that time the Royal Family would not tolerate him marrying a ‘commoner’. How his heart must have ached when he loved and wanted someone else. And Diana, who was subjected to the humiliation of being checked by doctors to ensure she was a virgin, was another victim of their strict, antiquated social expectations. 

Despite all that and all her emotional ups and downs, Diana set a wonderful example of using your position to better the lives of others. As you read the cards that were placed next to the dresses I show in the following photos, you will see a woman who would make it easier for sick children to hug her, and who would take off her gloves to shake hands with a man who had Aids. Around the walls of the exhibition there were tributes from fashion designers as well, saying she started off as a very innocent and humble girl, but matured into a lovely, special, woman who was always kind and thoughtful and used her position to help promote the British fashion industry. 

When they were quite young, William and Harry persuaded their mother to sell much of her wardrobe to raise money for charities. Some of the dresses on display were loaned back for this exhibition. I am sure Diana would be very proud to know that her sons have grown to be like her in any fundamental ways, including her dedication to a wide range of worthy causes.

To also mark the anniversary of her death, a beautiful sunken garden has been created at the palace, called ‘the white garden’.  I include some photos of that as well. 

Vale Diana. 

Kensington

As you would realise if you check my blog fairly frequently, I am been ’off the air’ for a few days. This has been because the pace of this tour has been so frenetic I simply have not had time to write. I have been up at 5 am every morning and not in bed until about 11 pm. We have been travelling, going on walking tours, etc., all day long, and then participated in various events at night as well - including a medieval banquet in a Welsh castle, accompanied by superb Welsh singing and music, and the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo - what a Wow! event that was! .  

But it has been an amazing journey, so the long hours have all been very worthwhile.

Rather than jump about, I will return to our first day of touring and take you through our days in order.  

After our whirlwind tour of London, we drove straight out to Kensington where we were going on a tour of Kensington Palace, including their recently installed exhibition of some of the clothes worn by Princess Diana. 

First we were given an hour to find somewhere to eat in the main shopping street of Kensington. A food hall was recommended so most of us trouped in there. Unfortunately the food was fairly luke-warm and not very impressive. On my way back to the meeting point, however, I spotted a lovely cafe and decided to go in there for a coffee and a cake. The cakes displayed in the window were ‘to die for’!  It turned out that the coffee was one of the best I have tasted in a long while as well, so I decided the indulgence was well worth slipping back a little in my battle of the bulge. “Those who indulge, bulge!” - a very popular fridge magnet some time back. Oh well, I did do a lot of walking that day . . .

Next we visited a very old church, St Mary Abbotts, which was next to a very old, small primary school. We were told that Beatrix Potter married in that church and that the children of the former Prime Minister of England, David Cameron, attend the school. 

After wandering amongst some expensive houses and apartments in Kensington, we finally arrived at the very stately Kensington Palace. That palace has many stories to tell. I will show you what it was like inside and tell you what little I know in my next post.  

A war memorial in London.

The Methodist church diagonally opposite Westminster Abbey. In their basement they ran a cafe and provided toilet facilities for people visiting Westminster Abbey, a popular and much-appreciated service.

Inside the lovely cafe in Kensington. 

More of the cafe.

The fascinating story behind the cafe.

My indulgence. Yum!!

Some of the cakes in the window. 

More cakes!

We saw quite a few famous shops on our travels, such as Harrods. This Marks and Spencer was over the road from the cafe.

The Marks and Spencer store. 

St Mary Abbotts Church.The next two photos show the Primary School attached to it. 

Some of the residences in Kensington.

The fronts of these apartments were in the street next to Kensington Palace. That street, which also contains some Embassies, is a high security area. We were not allowed to take any photos in that street.

The front gates of Kensington Palace.

There were a small number of tributes to Diana on the gate. This no doubt will increase enormously on the 20th anniversary of her death. I have photographed the message in the card so you can read it. 

Close-up of the ornate gold work on the gate. 

This part of the palace is often occupied by William and Kate when they need to be in London on official business. 

The entrance for our tour. 

London - A Whirlwind Tour

After I reluctantly said goodbye to my friends, I met my new tour group with whom I am travelling around the England, Scotland and Wales, in just over a week. This is a relatively small group (about 25). Apart from myself, all are from the United States, including the tour director. My luck had continued though, as they are very friendly, nice people.

On our first evening together, we walked for about 20 minutes or so to a local pub with the rather scary name of ‘The Hung, Drawn and Quartered’ - a punishment given to traitors and an excruciatingly painful way to die. There were three samples of beer laid out for us to taste - which of course I did not - and  we were given three small pies to taste, with a bit of mashed potato. I am afraid that those I spoke to did not enjoy the meal any more than I did. The pastry was not fresh and crispy, the fillings were fairly ordinary, and the mashed potato was rather glue-like. You could cut off slices of the mash with a knife. Not a good start to the tour food-wise, but most quite enjoyed their dessert and at least we started to get to know each other.

The next morning we went on a comprehensive whirlwind tour of London on our coach, seeing significant sites including Nelson’s Column, St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, Piccadilly Circus, the West End, MI5, the New Scotland Yard, Hyde Park, the Australian, Canadian and US Embassies, the Ministry of Defence and the Home Office, the London Eye and London Bridge. We were privileged to hear Big Ben ring at 10 am, one of the very last times that giant bell would ring for about fours years! (It is being repaired and restored.) And while we did not see the changing of the guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace, we did get see the new set of guards marching from their barracks to the palace ready for that ceremony. 

All the while we heard a fascinating commentary from our local guide. For example, we learned that London is really two cities. The City of London is only one square mile. The city of Westminster is about eight square miles. Around them are the various boroughs. Who would have thought? 

We passed by so many significant buildings, squares, roads and beautiful gardens at speed, I must admit I lost track of many of the sites. But I hope that the following photos will at least give you a glimpse of what we saw of this very busy, very vibrant city. 

By the way, I noticed that unlike what has happened in Melbourne at least, the very beautiful tall trees that line the city streets have not been hacked into ugly-looking shapes in order to string up all the wires and cables. I assume the city fathers here have had the sense to install them underground. 

 

Our first pub for this tour.

There you go! An incentive to be polite. 

Some of the photos of British monarchs in the pub. 

More of the pub.

People walking to work in the drizzle on London Bridge. Apparently this is about the sixth bridge in this spot, the original one built by the Romans, hence the nursery rhyme 'London Bridge is Falling Down . . .' 

St Paul's Cathedral.

More of St Paul's Cathedral, where Charles and Di were married. It is on the front steps of the cathedral here that the old woman sang 'Feed the birds. Tuppence a Bag . . .'  in Mary Poppins.

Trafalgar Square and Nelson's column. The statue of Lord Nelson, about whom I wrote in my last post about Gibraltar, faces Trafalgar. 

At Piccadilly Circus.

The London Her Majesty's Theatre, where they are still playing 'Phantom of the Opera'. 

Outside the Ministry of Defence.

If I recall correctly, this is the building that houses MI5.

Westminster, and the scaffolding that soon will hide Big Ben for four years. 

Westmister Abbey.

A wider view of Westminster Abbey.

Part of the huge complex of the New Scotland Yard. 

Westminster.

One of the very modern buildings in the heart of London. 

Another modern building. 

Crowds were already waiting for the Change of the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace. 

This photo and the next two show the guards marching towards Buckingham Palace.