Princess Diana’s Former London Apartment Gets Awarded English Heritage Plaque
Image via English Heritage
You could almost deem Lady Diana Spencer as royalty when she was still living in the Coleherne Court on Old Brompton Street in Kensington, even before she married Prince Charles. She was already one of the most photographed faces of her time then, as paparazzi frequently crowded her after it was made known that she and the prince were courting, and, later on, when the couple was engaged.
The neighborhood wound up to be a hotspot for photographers frantic to get a picture of the princess-to-be. While she only lived in the building’s Flat 60 for two years, they made up a pivotal phase of her life.
This was the home where she’d experience her final burst of normalcy, living with flatmates and working as a kindergarten teacher’s assistant.
It thus comes as little surprise that, as English Heritage awarded the Princess of Wales its prestigious blue plaque on September 29, the place to be graced with the ornamental tablet was this humble home.
Her plaque reads, “Lady Diana Spencer, later Princess of Wales, lived here 1979-1981.”
According to CNN, “blue plaque spotting” has become a tradition among history lovers and travelers. The plaque is offered to figures who have made a mark in history—whether British or a person who had lived in the UK for a while—with names like Virginia Woolf, Freddie Mercury, Mahatma Gandhi, and Winston Churchill (a distant cousin of Princess Diana) previously being recognized by English Heritage, a charity that oversees more than 400 historic sites in England.
“Diana had, and still has, a very special place in the hearts of Londoners and we are thrilled to see her blue plaque formally placed as a monument to her work for others,” said London Assembly chair Andrew Boff at the unveiling ceremony.
Virginia Clarke, her former flatmate, is thrilled by the news. “Those were happy days for all of us and the flat was always full of laughter,” she said. “Diana went off to become so much to so many. It’s wonderful that her legacy will be remembered in this way."
Image via English Heritage
[via CNN, images via English Heritage]
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