Eighteen years ago to this day, the concert for Diana took place at the newly built Wembley Stadium, on what would have been the princess’s 46th birthday.
In a break from royal tradition, Prince William and Prince Harry organised the ‘epic concert’ to commemorate the tenth anniversary of their mother’s death, which had taken seven months of intensive planning.
Royal author Katie Nicholl wrote in The Making of a Royal Romance: ‘The brothers decided that the concert should reflect their mother’s joie de vivre, and the eclectic line-up of West End show casts, performances from the Royal Ballet and some of the world’s biggest rock stars perfectly captured the mood.
‘From the outset William had said that he and Harry wanted to “put their stamp” on the memorial service and the concert.’
‘We want it to represent exactly what our mother would have wanted. So the church service alone isn’t enough,’ William had said.
‘We want to have this big concert on her birthday full of energy, full of the sort of fun and happiness which I know she would have wanted.
‘It’s going to be the best birthday present she ever had.’
Prince William and Prince Harry organised the ‘epic concert’, which had taken seven months of intensive planning, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of their mother’s death
Princess Diana died in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997, and the concert was held in her memory
Harry and William are pictured on June 30, 2007, ahead of the concert to commemorate ten years since Diana’s death
But the boys, who were in their early twenties at the time, were also aware that while the public remembered their mother very fondly, they had known a different side to her.
Ms Nicholl wrote: ‘It may have been ten years since her death, but Diana’s memory was still vivid – and not just for the princes but also with the public, who still adored her, and the newspapers, which remained infatuated with every detail of Diana’s life.
‘The public side, Harry said, was only a very small part of their mother. They liked to remember her without the cameras , when she was “just Mummy,” dancing barefoot to Michael Jackson in the drawing room of Kensington Palace and making them laugh with naughty jokes.
‘Until now they had had little opportunity to put their own mark on their mother’s memory.’
Two years before Diana’s tragic death she sat down with BBC journalist Martin Bashir for an Panorama interview.
The 54-minute programme saw Diana, Princess of Wales, interviewed by journalist Martin Bashir about her relationship with her husband, Charles, Prince of Wales, and the reasons for their separation.
The late royal was determined to ‘win back her reputation’ with the explosive TV interview, because ‘she was terrified the Royal Family would take her boys away’, according to royal expert Ingrid Seward.
Speaking to The Telegraph, the royal biographer said the princess had been ‘highly vulnerable and fairly desperate’ when she gave the interview in 1995.
Yet Ms Seward said the mother-of-two later confided in her that she was ‘defiant’, explaining: ‘She did not regret the interview as a whole… She wanted the world to see who she really was: someone who could help others.’
A royal expert said: ‘The concert and memorial were perfect opportunities for the boys to reinvent their mother’s image’
Diana’s boys danced and even joined a Mexican wave during the six-hour music marathon which was broadcast to around 140 countries and an estimated audience of 500million people
The concert featured 23 artists including Elton John, Duran Duran, Take That and Status Quo
The royal expert said she was invited by Princess Diana for a ‘girlie chat’ at Kensington Palace 18 months after the interview.
She claimed the late royal told her she ‘regretted talking about James Hewitt’ because she feared it could ‘hurt her sons.’
During her conversation with Bashir, she admitted to an adulterous affair with her riding instructor, James Hewitt. She also described her hurt at her husband’s relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles, but said she did not want to divorce.
Speaking before the interview, Diana also made plain her ‘hatred’ for Prince Charles and described their marriage as ‘hell from day one’.
Journalist Vivienne Parry recalled: ‘The boys were wisely kept out of all the rows that were going on, but there were huge problems with Diana’s image.
‘Diana’s name was and is very powerful, and it’s understandable that William and Harry are so protective of their mother’s legacy.’
Ms Nicholl added: ‘The concert and memorial were perfect opportunities for the boys to reinvent their mother’s image.
‘It was William and Harry’s first joint charity venture and their most ambitious project to date.’
William (left) and Harry (right) are seen with Duran Duran members Simon Le Bon (centre left) and Nick Rhodes (centre right) at the reception following the Concert for Diana
William said: ‘We want to have this big concert on her birthday full of energy, full of the sort of fun and happiness which I know she would have wanted’
Royal author Kate Nicholl wrote: ‘The brothers decided that the concert should reflect their mother’s joie de vivre, and the eclectic line-up of West End show casts, performances from the Royal Ballet and some of the world’s biggest rock stars perfectly captured the mood’
Harry and William are pictured enjoying the concert which they organised together
The BBC broadcast the concert live, and it was also shown on giant screens around the country, with an expected worldwide audience of hundreds of millions
Harry is pictured with newsreader Natasha Kaplinski at a backstage party after the Concert for Diana at Wembley
The concert featured 23 artists including Elton John, Duran Duran, Take That and Status Quo.
‘William and Harry made the decision early on that it was to be a party for younger members of the Royal Family, and while some of Diana’s family were invited, the old guard, including their father, who according to William didn’t know how to pronounce Beyoncé’s name, were not,’ wrote Nicholl.
In between performances, the audience were shown filmed interviews with ordinary people whose lives were touched by the Princess.
The BBC broadcast the concert live, and it was also shown on giant screens around the country, with an expected worldwide audience of hundreds of millions.
Diana’s boys danced and even joined a Mexican wave during the six-hour music marathon which was broadcast to around 140 countries and an estimated audience of 500million people.
Tickets to the Concert for Diana were generally priced at £45 for unrestricted view seats.
There were also some restricted view tickets available at a reduced price of £27.50.
Some people even sold tickets for significantly higher amounts online, according to The Telegraph and BBC, with bids reaching £200.
In December 2006, 22,500 tickets were made available for purchase for the concert, selling out in just 17 minutes and raising £1.2million for eight charities.
The proceeds were distributed to charities chosen by the Princes, including those supported by the late Princess and those of which they are patrons.
‘This evening is about all that our mother loved in life – her music, her dance, her charities and her family and friends,’ William said after receiving a standing ovation.
It is unlikely that a memorial event on this scale will happen again given the tenuous relationship between the boys.
The last time Harry and William were seen together was at the unveiling of the statue of Princess Diana at Kensington Palace in 2021.
It was William and Harry’s first joint charity venture and their most ambitious project to date
It is unlikely that a memorial event on this scale will happen again given the tenuous relationship between the boys
Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon is pictured onstage during the star-studded pop concert in memory of Diana
William and Harry unveil a statue of their mother in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace on July 1, 2021, which would have been her 60th birthday
It was reported that Diana, who would have celebrated her 64th birthday today, once made her sons promise that they would be ‘best friends’.
In Robert Lacey’s book Battle of Brothers, Simone Simmons, the late princess’s trusted psychic and friend, said that Diana told William and Harry: ‘You must promise me that you will always be each other’s best friends.
‘And never let anyone come between you.’
Most recently Harry spoke about his strained relationship with his family in his tell-all BBC interview following his lost appeal over his security.
He said Charles ‘won’t speak to me because of this security stuff’, but that he did not want to fight any more and did ‘not know how much longer my father has’.
He also added that he ‘can’t see a world in which I would bring my wife and children back to the UK at this point’.
Despite this fractured relationship, many royal observers hold onto a hope that the two will reconcile.
Hopefully this reconciliation will come before what would have been Diana’s next landmark birthday.
