This self-guided tour is a 7-mile circular walking trail in the heart of London featuring places associated with Diana, Princess of Wales. It includes stops at palaces, mansions, parks, memorials, and other landmarks related to the Princess, the royal family, and other must-see sites in London.
Ninety plaques mark the stops on the trail, created by artist Alec Peever. Each plaque contains an aluminum rose emblem, symbolizing Diana’s image and British traditions. The route was dedicated as a memorial to Princess Diana on June 30th, 2000, a day before her 39th birthday.
Diana Frances Spencer (1961-1997) was born in Norfolk, England, to an aristocratic family. At 16, after graduating from school, she met her future husband, the 29 years old Charles, Prince of Wales. Till 1981, she lived in London and worked in several low-income jobs. Then they married, and Diana entered the British Royal Family, receiving the title of the Princess of Wales. She took on many royal duties, became a patron of over 100 charities, and used her fame and love from the public to shed light on issues close to her heart, including cancer, AIDS, and homelessness.
In 1992, after 11 years of marriage and having two children, the princess and her husband divorced. That has not reduced the love she received from the public or the attention from the press, which she harnessed to raise awareness of social causes, such as the dangers of leftover landmines in Angola. Diana died in a car accident on August 31st, 1997, attempting to escape the paparazzi who followed her in the streets of Paris. She was 36 years old.
Walking The Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Walk can be started from any stop. It passes through four out of eight of London’s Royal Parks – St. James’s Park, Green Park, Hyde Park, and Kensington Gardens, and three palaces – St. James’s, Buckingham, where the princess lived before her marriage, and Kensington, where she raised her family. The walk also includes three grand houses – Apsley, Clarence, and Spencer’s family hereditary house.
Among the must-see sites on the walk is the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain and the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens.
Other sites on the walk include Westminster Abbey, one of the world’s most famous churches and where Diana married Prince Charles, The Magazine at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery, designed by Zaha Hadid, and the Queen Victoria Memorial at the end of The Mall.
