Exhibit celebrating Princess Diana to open in the US

FORT LAUDERDALE – A collection of Princess Diana’s regal evening gowns, family photographs and childhood treasures will be featured in an exhibit that will make its U.S. debut here in October.

‘Diana, a Celebration’, which includes Diana’s wedding gown, diamond tiara and dramatic 7,5-metre train, will be on display at the city’s Museum of Art from October 10 through December 31. Presenters said they hoped the collection would provide context to her life as a glamorous humanitarian and offer a window into her connection with the public.”She could have done the usual royal thing of just turning up and cutting ribbons or whatever but she was never like that,” said Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, who met with reporters this week in advance of the opening.”She wanted to do much more and to give of herself to people.”Photographs and home movies from their ancestral home of Althorp show Diana as a youngster, posing in her ballet shoes or diving into a swimming pool.Spectators can see her childhood passport, a blue gingham frog Diana kept on her bed or a letter she wrote to her father as a nine-year-old.Her relationship with Prince Charles is displayed through a 1980 Christmas card from the prince – inscribed “from your tap dancing partner, Charles” – and the white gown, tiara, shoes and parasol she wore during her 1981 wedding, an event watched by nearly a billion people in 70 countries.In a nod to her sense of style, the exhibit offers 28 dresses, suits and gowns designed by Versace, Valentino and Chanel, including the light green protective vest Diana wore over denim during 1997 trips to Angola and Bosnia to fight the use of land mines.The display offers tributes that followed her fatal Paris car crash in August 1997, including the musical score and handwritten lyrics from Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s adaptation of ‘Candle in the Wind’, and the original text of Spencer’s tribute to his sister delivered during her funeral at Westminster Abbey.The 150-piece exhibit is currently on display in Toronto and attracted as many as 5 000 visitors a day during a 2002 stop in Japan.Spencer said it was natural for the exhibition to move to the United States.Spencer said the exhibit “cuts through” the tabloid attention his late sister garnered, offering insight into her labour on behalf of charitable causes and works that made her known as the “people’s princess.””You can look at any life in many angles, but to me, this is one that Diana’s life should be remembered by,” Spencer said.- Nampa-APPresenters said they hoped the collection would provide context to her life as a glamorous humanitarian and offer a window into her connection with the public.”She could have done the usual royal thing of just turning up and cutting ribbons or whatever but she was never like that,” said Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, who met with reporters this week in advance of the opening.”She wanted to do much more and to give of herself to people.”Photographs and home movies from their ancestral home of Althorp show Diana as a youngster, posing in her ballet shoes or diving into a swimming pool.Spectators can see her childhood passport, a blue gingham frog Diana kept on her bed or a letter she wrote to her father as a nine-year-old.Her relationship with Prince Charles is displayed through a 1980 Christmas card from the prince – inscribed “from your tap dancing partner, Charles” – and the white gown, tiara, shoes and parasol she wore during her 1981 wedding, an event watched by nearly a billion people in 70 countries.In a nod to her sense of style, the exhibit offers 28 dresses, suits and gowns designed by Versace, Valentino and Chanel, including the light green protective vest Diana wore over denim during 1997 trips to Angola and Bosnia to fight the use of land mines.The display offers tributes that followed her fatal Paris car crash in August 1997, including the musical score and handwritten lyrics from Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s adaptation of ‘Candle in the Wind’, and the original text of Spencer’s tribute to his sister delivered during her funeral at Westminster Abbey.The 150-piece exhibit is currently on display in Toronto and attracted as many as 5 000 visitors a day during a 2002 stop in Japan.Spencer said it was natural for the exhibition to move to the United States.Spencer said the exhibit “cuts through” the tabloid attention his late sister garnered, offering insight into her labour on behalf of charitable causes and works that made her known as the “people’s princess.””You can look at any life in many angles, but to me, this is one that Diana’s life should be remembered by,” Spencer said.- Nampa-AP