Princess Diana is being honored in the UK and around the world on Thursday, the 20th anniversary of her tragic death.
Public services were planned across Britain, including at the Mildmay Mission Hospital in London, where the “people’s princess” and humanitarian frequently visited HIV patients.
Dancer Wayne Sleep, who performed with the princess, will join hospital patron and actress Linda Robson and other staffers to share memories of Diana.
Elton John – who reworked the song “Candle in the Wind” for Diana’s funeral — also paid tribute to his longtime friend on Twitter.
“20 years ago today, the world lost an angel. #RIP #Diana20,” the singer wrote with a picture of him and Diana smiling together.
Floral tributes and touching messages from fans continued to amass outside Kensington Palace, which was decorated with pictures of the Princess of Wales.
Princes William and Harry honored their mother Wednesday by laying flowers at the gates of her former home and visiting the White Garden, which was planted in her memory.
The sons also visited with officials from various charities that Diana supported.
“All of us lost somebody,” Harry told one group.
William and Harry, who were just 15 and 12 when their mother died, opened up for the first time publicly about her death.
“There’s not a day that William and I don’t wish that she was … we don’t wish that she was still around,” Harry said in an ITV documentary called “Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy.”
“And we wonder what kind of a mother she would be now, and what kind of a public role she would have, and what a difference she would be making.”
The royal family was expected to mark Diana’s anniversary privately Thursday.
Diana was 36 when she was killed Aug. 31, 1997 in a car crash while being chased by paparazzi in Paris. Her wealthy Egyptian boyfriend Dodi Fayed and the couple’s driver, Henri Paul, also died.
Overnight, people gathered at the Pont de l’Alma tunnel, the scene of the crash.
“She changed the royal family forever,” said Sian Croston, 17, who visited the gold-leaf Flame of Liberty monument located above the overpass.
“She will always be the people’s princess,” Croston added, referring to the moniker coined by Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Diana married Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, in 1981 in an extravagant “wedding of the century” watched on TV by an estimated 750 million people worldwide.
But their relationship crumbled as Charles’ secret affair with Camilla Park-Bowles came to light. The two divorced in 1996.
With Post Wires