A Nice Idea - For one time only (Althorp)

Member Name: websterhazel

Product:	Althorp
Date:	01/02/01 (75 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It was a good idea for once only so the public did have their chance to say good bye...

Disadvantages: ...but to carry it on for a second and third year is just another way to line Viscount Althorp's pockets.

A friend and I visited Althorp for the Princess Diana memorial the first summer that it was opened to the public.

We both wanted to go there for the opportunity to pay our respects to Diana, lay some flowers and then go home. Unfortunately, in order to do this we first of all had to take a tour through Althorp house, the gardens and a museum dedicated to Diana.

I cannot deny that the house and gardens are beautiful but at the end of the day we were there for one reason and one reason only, Diana. The museum was lovely and in some ways a fitting tribute to Diana because there was lots of footage being shown of the unfaltering work she did for many charities and also a display of thank you letters etc from many of the people she helped.

There was also footage being shown of the days after her death, the national outpouring of grief and the many bouquets of flowers that were layed outside Buckingham Palace.

Several of Diana's outfits, including her wedding dress, was on display and I have to say that it was lovely to see her beautiful wedding dress in person. It brought back memories of the day that I watched Charles and Diana get married on the television aged just seven, when I dreamed that one day I would wear a dress just like that to my own wedding.

Finally we arrived at the island, you were not allowed to go over to it but you were allowed to walk around it and then place any flowers at a memorial about half way around. It was a very melancholy moment when we stood looking over to the island, knowing that a woman who had touched so many people's lives was buried there, we paid our respects and reflected on how cruel it was that her family who loved her had been robbed of her and how she had been denied the true love that was blossoming between Diana and Dodi.

In between all this was also a sense of annoyance, I personally could not help feeling that Viscount Althorp was cashing in on his sisters de
mise rather than genuinly wanting to allow people to say their last goodbyes to the woman who had touched the lives of people who may not even have had the opportunity to meet her. If he was doing it for our benefit and for no financial gain of his own, then why the need to charge us for the priviledge.

For the first year, opening the house and the grounds was a nice idea but that is where it should have ended, after that Diana should have been left to rest in peace. I said at the time that I wanted to go once but never again after that and I never have.

Summary: