A MAJOR international competition was launched yesterday to find a designer for the national memorial to the late Princess of Wales.
The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain, which will cost £3 million, will be placed beside the Serpentine in Hyde Park in central London.
Much thought has gone into the form and position of a memorial to the Princess. Her family has always been against a statue and it was felt that a fountain was a more expressive reminder of her character.
Rosa Monckton, a close friend of the Princess and chairman of the Memorial Fountain Committee, said: "Water was such an important part of her life. She only felt truly free when she was swimming."
The competition to find a designer for the fountain has already attracted 130 expressions of interest.
~*~
Queen to attend special service at St Paul's(Yahoo: Reuters)
LONDON (Reuters) - The Queen will attend a special service at London's St Paul's Cathedral on Friday to honour those who died in the U.S. terror attacks, Buckingham Palace has said.
St Paul's said on Wednesday that the hour-long ceremony scheduled for 12 p.m. was a "special service for the American community".
"We believe that the Archbishop of Canterbury is going to preach...and the dean of St Paul's, the Very Reverend John Moses, will be leading the service," a spokeswoman said.
Buckingham Palace said the Queen would be returning from Balmoral in Scotland, where she has been on holiday, to attend Friday's ceremony.
Downing Street said it was not yet clear whether Prime Minister Tony Blair would attend the service as parliament has been recalled early and would be opening on Friday. But he said a senior government representative would be present.
A palace spokeswoman said the Queen had also arranged for a special "Changing of the Guard" at Buckingham Palace on Thursday as well as a two-minute silence to remember those who died in Tuesday's New York and Washington atrocities.
She said the Queen would be represented at the Buckingham Palace ceremony by Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, and U.S. Ambassador William Farish also would be there.
Members of the 1st Battalion Devonshire and Dorset would form the guard for the ceremony at 11.30 a.m. and they would play the U.S. national anthem.
A U.S. embassy spokesman said it was likely that the ambassador would also attend the ceremony at St Paul's but he could not yet give details.
To September News
To News Archive