Earlier this week Prince William had been in Helensburgh, but yesterday, the princes reunited to present a new honorary statue at Kensington Palace of their late mother, Princess Diana, on what would have marked her 60th birthday.
The brothers have not attended a public event together since the funeral for their late grandfather, Prince Philip, back in April—partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and partly due to Harry relocating to California with his family after he and Duchess Meghan stepped down as senior working royals last year.
William and Harry first commissioned the statue of Diana to be made back in 2017 to memorialize their mother and mark the 20th anniversary of her death.
“Today, on what would have been our Mother’s 60th birthday, we remember her love, strength and character—qualities that made her a force for good around the world, changing countless lives for the better,” a statement from both princes read.
“Every day, we wish she were still with us, and our hope is that this statue will be seen forever as a symbol of her life and her legacy,” they continued. “Thank you to Ian Rank-Broadley, Pip Morrison and their teams for their outstanding work, to the friends and donors who helped make this happen, and to all those around the world who keep our mother’s memory alive.”
Meanwhile, the statue itself was criticised in The Guardian newspaper.
Instead he has let it all hang out in a different way. The sentiment splurges across the flower beds of Kensington Palace, in London, like an uncontrolled wail of artistically absurd pathos. A larger-than-life Diana who stands in an awkward, stiff, lifeless pose and has a face that’s more manly than I remember, modelled apparently with thickly gloved hands and no photograph to consult, protects two children in her arms while a third lurks behind her.
It is a religious image that shamelessly plays up to the most mawkish aspects of Diana worship. She deserves to be remembered. But does she need to be turned into a colossal divine protectress of all children? If that is how Princes Harry and William, her sons, think of her that’s up to them.
The image of mother and child has been a Catholic mainstay for more than a millennium. So this sculpture invites us to see Diana as a modern Mary. And the princes say they don’t want it to be a shrine?
But this looks like the art of a new religion. For the maternal shielding blatantly echoes one of the greatest images of the Virgin Mary in Christian art, by Piero della Francesca, of the holy mother protecting an entire community under her robe. Even without that specific allusion the image of mother and child has been a Catholic mainstay for more than a millennium and before that featured in Egyptian religious art. So this sculpture invites us to see Diana as a modern Mary, or even Isis with her son Horus. And they say they don’t want it to be a shrine?
If only it were possible to email Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 17th-century Rome and get him to make something as warm and seemingly alive as his bust of his lover Costanza Bonarelli. That truly might be the artistic equivalent of Elton John singing Candle in the Wind. Instead, this somehow nauseating statue will stand with all the bronze footballers as baffling evidence to future generations that in the early 21st century, people wasted their money, effort and debates on silly, sterile, insignificant works of art. The flower beds are nice, though. – Guardian
Lorraine Kelly had a wee go on her TV show
ITV host Lorraine Kelly criticised the artwork when speaking on her self-titled breakfast show on Friday (2 July).
“Can I just say, I don’t really like it,” she said. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what you think, but I don’t really like the outfit.”
Kelly continued: “What I do like is the strength, she looks very strong. I just don’t think it does her justice.”