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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU - Princess Diana new statue

788 replies

ForeverAintEnough3 · 01/07/2021 15:31

She was a style icon yet she’s in one of those frumpy waist belts that were only in fashion briefly. The face does nothing to represent how beautiful she was. It’s too harsh.

OP posts:
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29
starlight13 · 02/07/2021 19:18

And don't forget the smaller children around the back who she's having nothing to do with!

Barwell76 · 02/07/2021 19:19

I was never a particular fan of hers but most photos of her show her with a big happy smile. If she wasn't smiling her expression was slightly worried/anxious but in this statue she looks angry and pissed off. And the shoulders are too wide.

Mum2b43 · 02/07/2021 19:20

I should have been her with her boys. They were her world

Sylvan92 · 02/07/2021 19:23

Yesterday I said it didn’t matter as long as her children were happy. On reflection, that’s not true. It’s in a place where the public visit. It should be pleasant to look at and it’s really not. I like visiting KP and the gardens and the thought of that statue being there spoils it.

July2mebabywouldJuly2me · 02/07/2021 19:24

@Mum2b43

I should have been her with her boys. They were her world
God that expression makes me cringe. It's so Facebook.
lljkk · 02/07/2021 19:26

Apparently this statue was finished years ago.
They knew what that statue is like, they had a long time to consider it.
Statue is larger than life, probably how they remember her.
This is how they want her remembered.
Not as the tall slender glamour puss, not as shy 19 yr old, not as stressed out too-skinny, not as 3rd person in the marriage or world's most photographed woman.

But as Someone else, as how they saw her.

VerticalHorizon · 02/07/2021 19:31

Apparently this statue was finished years ago.
So was the sculptor according to many here!

entropynow · 02/07/2021 19:32

@yomommasmomma

Well, you're both wrong as it happens. Cling on the St Megan image all you like (why is it that people project so fiercely onto these rich, privileged strangers?) but as it predates all her shouty perfomativeness, she didn't have anything to do with it.

ancientgran · 02/07/2021 19:35

@WhyNotNow21

What a sad affair. The whole thing. Poor Diana and her poor poor children. Awful. Seeing the two boys staring up at her for a brief moment after the unveiling. Utterly utterly tragic. Nothing has changed and the warring continues on....

William barely looked at Harry, in fact many of the people there barely spoke to him. He looked like a spare wheel, despite his attempts to be smiley and cheery. He is no longer welcome. I'm not sure he'll return again for quite a few years now.

They aren't boys, they are grown men, they've done military service, they are married, they have fathered children. They are men.

If people refer to a 39 year old woman as a girl everyone goes mad but for some weird reason they two men are repeatedly referred to as boys.

Diverseopinions · 02/07/2021 19:39

I bet one of the princes suggested random children. No sculpture would use their initiative to come up with such a bold departure from convention.

It seems like an initial idea, with a bit more tacked on, and then an afterthought added, and some element discarded. The finished article looks like the product of some difference of opinion, and a compromise solution. The outfit could be seen as part way between very formal state occasion evening wear and casual wear.

Good sculptures usually have a feeling of unity: religious statutes with the energy flowing out from the outstretched hands and perfect stillness of the body. Poise is everything. The ideas in this work are a bit juxtapositioned and messy. Diana would definitely have leaned in to feel the presence of any child she were with. It is like somebody has said: " Oh no, but that's too informal", and here we have the in-between stance, rather like an air hostess shepherding the kids up the stairs to the plane, but remembering to maintain her upright professional posture, at all costs.

But it's hard, because she was quite informal when she ceased to be married to Charles, and yet a princess and jewel in the royal crown, when she was with him. So which person do you capture?

ancientgran · 02/07/2021 19:43

@Moonwhite

Perhaps it was based on a private photograph. For a bronze statue - they rarely look good - it at least looks like her.
The photograph was posted earlier in the thread.
C130 · 02/07/2021 19:54

[quote entropynow]@yomommasmomma

Well, you're both wrong as it happens. Cling on the St Megan image all you like (why is it that people project so fiercely onto these rich, privileged strangers?) but as it predates all her shouty perfomativeness, she didn't have anything to do with it.[/quote]
"Shouty perfomativeness". Hmm

RaspberryRoyale88 · 02/07/2021 19:59

I agree the Princes aren’t boys anymore. It’s weird to see them referred as such!

It’s been reported William had saw the statue prior to the event so it wouldn’t have been a surprise to him.

And after Harry slagged off his family repeatedly in public, is it any wonder William gave him a wide berth? Harry has reaped what he has sown.

SheldonesqueTheBstard · 02/07/2021 20:09

Och they’ll always be her boys.

I’m 50 odd and am still my mam’s wee quine.

Ariadneslostthread · 02/07/2021 20:18

RE Princess Di statue, I don’t even think it looks much like her !!....it’s seems quite harsh. When you consider the work of great sculptors in History, it’s in fact bloody awful. The fact the sculptor was Male disappoints me, I think a woman might have interpreted her profile more successfully. Also, given the work was cast from lost wax, the maquette must have been carved in either wax or clay, and surely Harry and William would have felt the portrait lacked a certain detail and softness?...sorry, but I think it looks really poor, - and given who commissioned it, and who it represents, it think it’s very disappointing

Ethsmum · 02/07/2021 20:20

In my opinion the statue does not emphasis how stunning this lady was… ok it might be as she was 25 years ago… but even then she was stunning…I do wonder what Will & Harry really thought of it…🤷‍♀️

Bonbud · 02/07/2021 20:38

Definitely !! It's awful 😞

ARealTrip · 02/07/2021 20:39

I find the whole thing, even having a statue a bit strange.

VerticalHorizon · 02/07/2021 20:41

Far better if it had been in Plasticine, then they could make something else with it tomorrow.

Maggiesfarm · 02/07/2021 20:44

@Ethsmum

In my opinion the statue does not emphasis how stunning this lady was… ok it might be as she was 25 years ago… but even then she was stunning…I do wonder what Will & Harry really thought of it…🤷‍♀️
If they hadn't approved it, it would not be standing in Kensington Palace gardens in its present form.

Yes she was stunning, nothing can really capture that except film, perhaps a portrait, but we have plenty of that.

The Princess's family really knew her in ways that we never will.

LuluJakey1 · 02/07/2021 20:48

Does it matter whether it looks like her or not? She has been dead for almost 25 years and will be forgotten about sooner or later. It is tucked away in a garden. A few tourists may visit it but it is hardly a national monument. I am not sure if the public even wanted a statue in the first place.

Ethsmum · 02/07/2021 20:51

VerticalHorizon

“Far better if it had been in Plasticine, then they could make something else with it tomorrow.”

Lol 😂 so funny 😆

MrsFin · 02/07/2021 20:56

The Princess's family really knew her in ways that we never will.

Well duh! Talk about stating the bleeding obvious!

ancientgran · 02/07/2021 20:59

@SheldonesqueTheBstard

Och they’ll always be her boys.

I’m 50 odd and am still my mam’s wee quine.

They might be her boys but they aren't ours. Prince Philip was supposedly very close to Princess Anne but I've never heard anyone say Philip's girl, it's just weird.
SheldonesqueTheBstard · 02/07/2021 21:02

Try telling that to my mam!!

Granted she thinks of me being under 10 some days. Sad

I don’t think anyone has called them our boys though.

I know they are men. But I remember them as her boys.

I will try to snap out of it. 😉