Guy Gerald brought wild flowers from his garden and a poem he wrote for Diana, laying them gently among the mementos that dotted a makeshift Paris shrine to the princess on Friday, 15 years after she died.
The 65-year-old was one of a steady trickle of tourists, well-wishers and die-hard Diana fans who filed past the site, directly above the underpass where the princess was killed in a car crash alongside her companion Dodi Fayed.
“Unforgettable Diana”, “A life of love,” “Fifteen years already”, read the little notes taped to the base of a replica of the flame of the Statue of Liberty, a local monument which Diana fans have adopted as an informal memorial.
Ignoring the din of the traffic rushing into the tunnel under the Alma bridge, just north of the River Seine, visitors from Brazil, South Africa or Canada bent to read the messages set among pictures and papier mache flowers.
As he has done each year since 1997, Gerald made the two-hour journey from Orleans south of Paris to pay his respects—among a busy jostle of radio and television crews.
“Diana is a figure of inspiration for all of us. She brings me comfort and strength,” smiled the metalworker, who planned to spend four to five hours at the shrine.
“Fifteen years already, time has stood still and so has my heart,” reads the opening of the poem he composed in her memory. “But for all those who love, time is eternal.”
South African businessman Robbie Teengs and his wife Theresa also set aside the last day of their European tour for Diana.
“It was a shock 15 years ago,” said the 53-year-old ironmongery businessman. “I can remember that night exactly. Harry and William—their kids were the same age as our kids. I woke my wife up, we couldn’t sleep.
“She was taken away hopelessly too soon. I think she meant a hell of a lot, not only to her family but also to the world.
“So our priority today was to come here,” he told AFP.
Likewise, Jocelyn Knott from the region of Toronto, was in Paris with a whole tribe of 15 family members en route for a reunion in the Netherlands—and together they made a detour via the monument.
“We thought it would be special to stop by and see the memorial,” said the 52-year-old. “I think its a wonderful tribute to her and her life.
“I remember the day she got married and the birth of her children, her charity work, how she tried to raise her boys as normal as possible. It was so sad she had to die that early.”
Sylvia Fricot brought her eight-year-old daughter all the way from southern France to show her the shrine to the “princess of hearts”.
“She was a beautiful woman, elegant and generous,” she said. “I still remember when I learned of her death. I had just woken up, and it took me some time to come to terms with it.”
Daniele Fazzio, visiting from Sao Paulo with her sharply-dressed businessman husband Edelcio, scanned the monument and surrounding area with her iPad to capture the moment.
“She had a big soul, she captivated the whole world,” she said.
“Diana wore her heart on her sleeve,” agreed Pawel Kurnatowsky, a 50-year-old engineer from a village near Poznan, in central Poland.
Some of those present were too young to remember the princess in their lifetimes, like Maxime Cailmail, 20, and his friend Pauline Laries, 23, visiting Paris from southern Toulouse.
“I was only four years old when Diana died, but I remember seeing my mother crying and shaking at the news she was dead,” Laries recalled.
But Priyani Wijesinghe, a Sri Lankan doctor who lives in Paris, remembers the princess’s untimely death well.
“She’s the only Diana, there won’t be another,” said the 66-year-old, who has lovingly collected Diana memorabilia ever since her royal wedding to Charles in 1981. “I don’t know why she was taken away.”
Photo: AFP