I love to Dream, live to Create and hope to Inspire!

Princess Diana

Do you remember where you were when you heard she died?

OMGosh, I've always been a Princess Diana fan. I had my tonsils taken out the summer she got married and while laying in bed recovering from surgery I watched her wedding all day long. I remember it so vividly ~ she was stunning in that gorgeous dress and well it just seemed like a fairy tale ~ which we know now it really wasn't.

I remember when we first moved to England I purchased quite a lot of things with her on it ~ you know the touristy things like postcards, cups, trinkets, etc.

I remember getting the stamps the first day they were released because I wanted to make sure I got them.

This is a photo that came in a British magazine after she died. It's a glossy 8x10 that I forgot I had until recently when I was going through all off my England pictures.

I remember my husband coming in on a Sunday morning to tell me that she had been in a crash in Paris and they didn't think it was good news.

I jumped out of bed to watch the tv and then they made the announcement that she passed away. I remember I called my sister to tell her and she was sound asleep ~ I think it was like 2a.m. there in TN. She said that when she went to bed, they thought she was severly injured but would be alright.

I called that day to see if I could go on the tour of Buckingham Palace that the Officer's Spouse's Club was taking the Tuesday after she passed away. They had one space available. I didn't care that much about touring the palace but really wanted to go and take some flowers and well, just be in London for some reason. The tour still took place as it was booked a year in advance and well the palace said all was well with their schedule and come on.

I'm sure my opinion of the palace would have been much different had I gone months before. It was beautiful, gorgeous, breathtaking ~ but all I could think about was how Princess Diana must have thought walking through these halls, seeing all these beautiful antiques and heirlooms and feeling so lost in a family of staunch traditions and views. Another lady and myself on the tour were the only ones to bring flowers which really surprised me. We got to BP and with some time before our tour were able to walk up and lay flowers among the thousands already there. We went into our tour and 2 1/2 hours later when we came out there were over 10,000 people in line. All the amercian tv shows were there - Good Morning America, Today, etc. and I was so thankful that we got there early enough to put our flowers down and read some of the sweet notes left with them.

Then we jumped on the tube and went to Kensington Palace ~ Princess Diana's private residence. I spoke with a lady on the train from Wimbley that told me how she privately idolized Princess Diana and that she didn't know why but said she just had to be in London today to pay her respects.

We went over the church to sign the condolence books but the line was at least 1,000 deep and we wanted to go over to Harrod's (Dodi's dad owns this very popular store)

We were crying the entire time we were there. Everyone was crying really. Grown men, women, children ~ all generations, all races.

There were thousands of people here as well bringing flowers, notes, and signing books.

These pictures were in one of the front windows of the store and several others like the one to the left were taped up outside showing pictures of Princess and Dodi together.

I will share pictures with you soon from my trip to Althorp ~ Princess Diana's childhood home. I was able to go the first week they opened to the public in 1998 with my friend, her family and my youngest son. Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures inside the residence but the grounds were gorgeous and the momuments to her are beautiful.

It's hard to believe it's been 10 years.

I hope you have a wonderful day! I'll be busy busy busy painting for my classes this month and coming up with ideas for next month as well ~ of course I'll share them with you when I get them done.

PS ~ had a wonderful time at Artsymama's blog party yesterday ~ if you have an opportunity today go on over and check out the fabulous tutorials and ideas that the amazing bloggers shared!