2. The Entire Country Mourned, and Created Public Tributes to Diana
When Princess Diana died in 1997, the whole world mourned. Even as a child in the United States, I still remember when she died. But of course, nowhere on Earth was in deeper mourning than the United Kingdom. There were huge public tributes to Princess Diana all throughout London. Thousands of bouquets of flowers lined up along the front lawn of Kensington Palace. The pile of flowers outside of Buckingham Palace was so huge, it was 5 feet deep. Throughout London, there were other small shrines set up in her memory.
Prince Harry, who was 12 at the time, talked about what that was like in a documentary called Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy, which is available on HBO. “It was very, very strange after her death, the sort of outpouring of love and emotion from so many people that had never even met her.”Today, people still leave flowers at the gates of Buckingham and Kensington Palace on the anniversary of Princess Diana’s death, even though over 23 years have passed.