Princess Diana Memorial Garden in Kensington Palace

Despite being in London for years I only saw Kensington palace and the Diana memorial for the first time yesterday! There are always so many things to find in London.

The Sunken Garden was created in 1908 at the instigation of King Edward VII, it was one of Princess Diana’s favourite spots. To mark the 20th anniversary of her death in 2017 the palace’s gardeners transformed the space into The White Garden in her memory. The statue was commissioned in her memory by her sons and you might wonder why it’s three children not two, the statue aims to reflect the warmth, elegance and energy of Diana and the universality and generational impact of the Princess’s work. The dress style with the statement belt was based on the final period of her life as she gained confidence in not only herself but, her role as an ambassador for humanitarian causes.

The bronze statue was sculpted by Ian Rank-Broadley and is 1.25x life size. The garden is planted with flowers in a white and soft pastel colour palette, that includes over 4000 individual flowers. The flowers
Include 200 roses, of five varieties, 100 Forget-me-nots, 300 tulips, 500 lavender plants, 100 dahlias and 50 sweet peas.