Harry, who was 12 when his mother was killed in a high-speed car crash in a Paris tunnel, aged 36, spoke of the sense of loss he and his brother Prince William still feel.
"William and I can separate life into two parts," he told 500 guests at the Guards Chapel in central London as his elder brother bowed his head in the front row. "There were those years when we were blessed by the physical presence beside us of both our mother and father and then there are the 10 years since our mother’s death."
He recalled how Diana, Princess of Wales, was full of life, fun and laughter. But, he stressed, Diana also had her serious side as a tireless campaigner to raise awareness about landmines and AIDS.
AIDS CAUSES
In April 1987, Diana was one of the first high-profile celebrities to be photographed touching a person infected with the AIDS virus, HIV, a move seen as helping to change perceptions about the disease.
“In 1987, when so many still believed that AIDS could be contracted through casual contact, Princess Diana sat on the sickbed of a man with AIDS and held his hand," said former US President Bill Clinton in 2001 at the ‘Diana, Princess of Wales Lecture on AIDS.’ "She showed the world that people with AIDS deserve no isolation, but compassion and kindness. It helped change world’s opinion, and gave hope to people with AIDS," Clinton said at the time.
Prince Harry said that, "behind the media glare, to us – just two loving children – she was quite
simply the best mother in the world."
Harry, 22, said he and his older brother William, 25, think about their mother every day and the qualities she brought into the lives of others. "She made us and so many other people happy. May this be the way that she is remembered," he explained.
CHRISTIAN HYMNS
The service, including Christian hymns and prayers, began after published criticism from one of Diana’s friends that apparently persuaded Prince Charles’ second wife, Camilla, to abandon plans of attending.
To the princess, her close friends and legions of Dianaphiles, Camilla was reportedly the other woman who destroyed the marriage. Richard Chartres, the bishop of London, however urged an end to the sniping.
"Still 10 years after her tragic death there are regular reports of ‘fury’ at this or that incident and the princess’s memory is used for scoring points. Let it end here," Chartres said. "Let this service mark the point at which we let her rest in peace and dwell on her memory with thanksgiving and compassion."
That may be wishful thinking, with her picture still selling magazines and news papers, and her story inspiring a seemingly an unending stream of books.
Diana was known as the people’s princess, and that recognition was again on display outside of Kensington Palace, Diana’s London residence. Just as on every anniversary since her death, floral tributes were placed on the palace fences and gates in a sign of respect.
DIANA HEADLINES
In October, Diana will once again be in the headlines when the official coroner’s inquest into her death opens. Mohamed al Fayed, whose son died with Diana in the car crash in Paris, has deployed a high-paid legal team to argue his belief that the couple were the victims of an Establishment conspiracy led by the queen’s husband, Prince Philip.
A poll commissioned by Channel 4 television found that 25 percent of the public believes Diana was murdered. The telephone poll of 1,016 adults conducted this week had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
Al Fayed observed his own two minutes of silence at Harrods, his department store, an hour before the memorial service. His daughter, Camilla al Fayed, attended the royal memorial.
In the past, the royal family had refrained from any public remembrance of the anniversary of the princess’ death. This year, however, William and Harry took the lead in organizing the memorial service, as well as a rock concert on Diana’s birthday, July 1, which drew 70,000 paying fans. (With BosNewsLife Monitoring and reports from the United Kingdom).
