60th birthday: Diana statue to station in restyled garden at Kensington Palace

The sculpture will stand in a garden redesigned to offer a “calmer, more reflective setting” at Kensington Palace.

Princess Diana would have turned 60 years old today - and on would have been a milestone birthday for the Princess of Wales, people all over the world are taking time to pay tribute to "the People's Princess".

Diana's son, Prince Harry and Prince William prepare to unveil a statue of their mum.

It will be the first time the brothers have appeared together since the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral.

Her sons are to put aside differences in their troubled relationship to focus on their mother on what would have been her 60th birthday in a small ceremony in the Sunken Garden, one of her favourite spots, where the statue will stand.

A source privy to the development said, Covid restrictions mean the ceremony at Diana’s former home will be “a small event and a very personal moment for the family”.

The sculptor Ian Rank-Broadley and garden designer Pip Morrison will be among a small number of guests.

The garden design features several of Diana’s favourite flowers, including forget-me-nots, and many other spring and summer blooms in a variety of pastel shades.

Work began in October 2019 and since then five gardeners have spent a total of 1,000 hours planting more than 4,000 flowers.

These include more than 200 roses, 100 forget-me-nots, 300 tulips, about 500 lavender plants, about 100 dahlias, about 50 sweet peas and more than 400m of fine, short cut turf have been laid.

The Sunken Garden was created in 1908 at the instigation of King Edward VII. To mark the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death in 2017, the garden was temporarily renamed The White Garden and planted with flowers in white and soft pastel colours.

Diana Frances Spencer was born on July 1, 1961, in Sandringham, Norfolk, England.

A dedicated mother to her two sons and a passionate activist about a myriad of causes, the Princess of Wales was adored all over the world and news of her tragic death in a car crash in Paris devastated everyone who admired her.