LONDON — London finally honored the late Princess Diana Wednesday with a blue plaque at the place she called home in the two years before she married Prince Charles and her life in the goldfish bowl began.
For Diana, 60 Coleherne Court, an apartment near London’s fashionable King’s Road, was the start of a new adventure. Diana moved to London in 1979, after which she shared the apartment with several friends. Charles was first attracted to her apartment.
One of her roommates then, Virginia Clarke, helped unveil the English Heritage plaque during Wednesday’s ceremony.
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“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.”
According to Andrew Morton’s 1992 best-selling book “Diana, In Her Own Words,” Diana described her years at the property as “the happiest time” of her life.
Diana, who was killed in a Paris auto accident in 1997, is the most prominent former monarchy member to receive the honor. The London Assembly nominated her after a campaign in which Londoners were asked to suggest women that are worthy of a blue plate.
“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,” Andrew Boff is the chairman of London Assembly.
The honor comes in the year when she would have celebrated her 60th birthday.
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“Diana was one of the world’s most famous women and she used her fame and influence to raise awareness of issues such as homelessness and landmines,” said Anna Eavis, the curatorial director at English Heritage.
“It is fitting that our blue plaque remembers her at this place where her life in the public eye first began,” She also added.
The famous London blue plaque program started more than 150 year ago. These plaques are for people who have made London their home and achieved something worthwhile in life. There are over 900 official plaques throughout the capital.
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