Diana’s statue

I didn’t like anything about it either. I agree with Dilly, marble would have been better. I hope her sons are happy with it though. I wonder if they had any input?

I’d have preferred something like this images.app.goo.gl/wopWiwSbajF2RS4Y6

If meant to be her at 60 ok but not if at her prime??

Think the face is that of a man, such a shame as she was a beautiful looking woman. The siting of the three children seems a bit strange too with one of them behind another. Don't think it captures the true woman at all - not of course that I knew her personally

There are three random children. Her clothes are based on a photo, when she was wearing a shirt, skirt and belt. Its what her sons wanted, there would be criticism whatever it was like.

I think the statue is really disappointing. She looks manly and chunky and with no smile. She had such a lovely smile which we so often saw. Also she seems to be holding the children at a distance , she so often held children, her own and those she met very close. I don’t think it is representative of how we the public knew her but maybe it represents her as “ mum” and if so that’s lovely.

ginny

Can’t say I’m too keen either..

The statue is horrible, dark and gloomy. It doesn’t reflect Diana’s zest for life. Why random children with her and not her son’s. The clothes that she is wearing are also not right. She was known for her amazing outfits, so why put her in those boring clothes. No this statue bears no likeness to Diana in any way, shape or form.

Not what I was expecting, too dark , from the distance looks like a lump of granite. Nothing like Diana, she was full of light and smiley too. The random children are weird, why not her two sons as children, Sack the artist

I think it shows her character - it should not be based on how she looked. The clothes are ones that she wore in a Christmas card photo. The hidden child surely represents all those hidden children who we may not see.

I am sure her sons had input and approved the design. I would much rather a memorial that makes people think a little bit about what it represents, rather than a shiny mirror image.

I was expecting it to be of Diana with her 2 sons. Also her expression of compassion & her smile havent been captured, and the body is far too heavy. Id taken for granted that it would be a flashback to happy times for her, with William & Harry. Disappointed

I thought it was horrible, it was nowhere like the Diana that we all loved, it lacked grace and style, the hair was lank. I can't say i was as shocked with the clothes as i was her face and hair... !

I actually met her a couple of times and I thought this statue looked awful. Did not capture her spark and liveliness at all. She never looked drab even on landmine areas.
Can't believe she would have been 60 now. Feel glad for her boys that this might help but we have to accept she died a long time ago now.

Have to admit, I don’t think it does her justice and she doesn’t look at all happy but as long as Princes William and Harry are happy, that is all that really matters. Maybe we are just getting old to appreciate modern techniques.

I'm very surprised at all the comments about the random children. Diana was known for breaking the Royal rules when it came to people and particularly children. Up until she came along, Royals always wore hats but she refused and said that you couldn't cuddle a child in a hat. She was also known for her love of children (insisting her own children accompanied her wherever possible, another first for the Royals) and she would often keep in correspondence with the children she met in hospitals.
The image of her was chosen because the boys wanted a mature image reflecting her work, not just as their mother.
It is more austere than I had hoped but modelling in bronze always seems to look like that somehow. As long as her boys (2 of mine are nearly 40 but we always refer to them as that) like it, I guess that is the most important thing.

There are three children if you look very carefully. There is on behind and you can just make out limbs!
I am really disappointed by it as it makes her dowdy. She was never that!

It’s three children although I’ve not seen the third one popped behind the girl

Somebody said the sculptor had captured George Michael's hair perfectly!
I thought it looked frumpy, something Diana never was.

It does say in the Daily Express that the sculptor is more used to doing men, and military figures. They hope that another sculpture will be commissioned that is more sympathetic to her image.

I see no likeness at all. It looks just like a random woman standing remotely between two children.

I don’t think I would rush to pay to go into the garden to look at it.

Bazza wouldn’t it have been so much nicer! My son (an artist) remarked pity they couldn’t have risen from the dead Bellini to sculpt Diana. (Not just a canape apparently)

DS and DIL are both in the arts had some pithy remarks about the work when I called this morning. They also pointed out they (Prince William & Harry) have chosen rather dull traditional Charles Cecil (an art school in Florence, ds1 went for a summer school there and hated it) types for Royal commissions in the past which they felt were painted in a stock style rather than an individual take so weren’t surprised by the brothers choice of artist.

It was one of our best conversations in a while, I often don’t know what they are talking about with their work, but the Diana statue we could both agree on our shared dislike of it.

I had to look at it twice, as I realised the children were not: William and Harry. Personally I would have liked the children to have been: William and Harry. Diana loved her boys. To have had the statue of: Diana, William and Harry would have been such a memory for everyone to see. To have: Diana and the boys in Kensington Gardens, Diana would have been so proud to be with her boys. This is just my opinion. xx

I was very disappointed in the statue. It doesn't do her justice. It doesn't capture her spirit and looks wooden. The children are random, and I think it looks manly. A woman sculptor should have designed it. I would have like to see her holding a small child, or comforting one. There is no humanity in that statute.

I think there is a thudding silence on it in msm. No one wants to offend. But if it had been good the applause would have been thunderous. It’s awful. But apparently it was conceived and seen through by her sons so that’s what they wanted. I must check it again keep seeing that she is with three children I only saw two: a boy and a girl; black and white.
That wide belt / massive buckle thing was very short lived in the mid eighties not deserving of longevity. Never mind.

Grandmadinosaur

I’ve only seen it on my phone but it wasn’t what I thought it would be although it’s nice that it’s with her 2 beloved boys.
I assume as it’s in the sunken gardens at Kensington Palace the public will be able to view it Bluebellwould

Its not of her two beloved boys. One is of a girl and if you look closer there is a 3rd child behind the girl.

William and Harry are not dead