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LONDON - A decade after Princess Diana's sudden death, the royal family will gather to remember a woman mourned by millions worldwide.
At a memorial service, the "People's Princess" will be praised for her generosity and Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, will give thanks for "the memories of her that we treasure still".
Diana, 36, was killed on August 31, 1997, when the limousine carrying her and lover Dodi al-Fayed smashed into a pillar in a Paris tunnel. Her untimely death provoked an unprecedented outpouring of grief.
The public fascination with Diana, once the world's most photographed woman, endures 10 years on.
Outside her former home at Kensington Palace where a sea of flowers were left in the highly-charged days after her death, dramatised in the recent Oscar-winning film "The Queen", people gathered again this week to pay their respects.
Friday's service will be shown live on TV. Broadcasters from around the world will also cover the hour-long event, to be held at the Royal Military Chapel at London's Wellington Barracks at 12:00 noon.
More than 30 members of the royal family will attend including the Queen, Diana's ex-husband and heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, and her sons princes William and Harry, who were aged 15 and 12 when their mother died.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his predecessor Tony Blair will be among the 500 guests along with celebrities such as pop star Elton John, who sang at her funeral.
ABSENTEES
However, some figures who played a prominent role in Diana's often turbulent life will be notable by their absence. Charles's second wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, announced this week she had decided to pull out to avoid being a distraction.
Many commentators said it would have been inappropriate for the woman Diana dubbed "the Rottweiler", who was blamed for the break-up of her marriage, to attend even though Harry and William had invited her.
"The service is going to include both sides of the family, our mother's side and our father's side - everyone getting together," Prince Harry said in a recent interview.
"It should be a good occasion and lots of loud hymns. It should be a very sort of simple and nice service."
Both princes will deliver a reading as will Diana's sister Lady Sarah McCorquodale. Prayers will be led by Archbishop Williams.
"Her vulnerability, and her willingness to reach out to the excluded and forgotten, touched us all; her generosity gave hope and joy to many," Williams will say.
Another absentee will be Dodi's father, Egyptian-born Mohammed al-Fayed, owner of the luxury London store Harrods.
Al-Fayed, who accuses the royal family of ordering the couple's murder to prevent them from marrying, was not invited.
Despite comprehensive police inquiries ruling out foul play, many Britons share al-Fayed's suspicions that the deaths were not an accident.
An official inquest into the deaths will begin on October 2, once again propelling Diana back into the headlines.
- REUTERS
