Princess Diana statue to be opened to the public for this heartbreaking reason

Princess Diana's statue which is placed in the Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace will be open to the public at the end of August for a very sad reason.

• A Princess Diana statue was unveiled at Kensington Palace earlier this year by Prince Harry and Prince William.
• The statue pays tribute to their mother Princess Diana who would have turned 60 in July 2021.
• In other royal news, the Queen eats hamburgers in the weirdest way and honestly, we're intrigued.

A statue of Princess Diana was unveiled earlier this year, on the 1st July, at a grand event to honor what would have been the late Princess of Wales' 60th birthday.

Kensington Palace’s Sunken Garden was filled with 4,000 flowers ahead of statue unveiling in order to commemorate the Princess, and her son, Prince Harry, flew all the way from California to be there with his mother's side of the family for the special occasion.

Since the unveiling, visitors have only been able to visit the statue from Wednesday to Sunday. This is because of the pandemic, which has meant that many historical sites have opted for reduced opening times.

However, for a particularly sad reason, an exception has been made to allow visitors to view the statue next Tuesday.

Princess Diana died in a car accident in Paris on August 31, 1997. Next Tuesday is August 31, 2021—the 24 year anniversary of the royal's tragic death.

A spokesman for Historic Royal Palaces said that the statue will be able to be viewed by the public from August 31, 2021, between 3 pm and 5 pm. "We acknowledge that there will be interest in viewing the statue on that day," they said. "So we will be providing access to the Cradle Walk which is essentially the beautiful walkway around the Sunken Garden."

They continued, "We will be opening that up, freely available, for passers-by or anybody who wants to stop and take a moment on that Tuesday, especially for the anniversary."

Well-wishers will not have to pay to visit the statue as entry to the Cradle Walk is free and doesn't require booking. 

Although flowers, in memory of Princess Diana, can be left outside various royal residences, public access into the Sunken Garden is still restricted. So mourners will sadly not be able to lay flowers by the statue.

Kensington Palace, where the statue sits in the Sunken Gardens, is home to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their three children—Princess Diana's grandchildren—Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis.

This London-based property is just one of the few royal residences that the couple calls home. The Cambridge brood can also regularly be found at their country escape Amner Hall.

Many members of the royal family are currently enjoying their summer holidays in Scotland at Balmoral Castle. It is unknown if any members of the family are planning to visit the statue next week to pay homage to Princess Diana's memorial statue and commemorate the 24 years since she passed.