New Sites and Developments
Updated August 23, 2007
Ten years have passed since Princess Diana's last summer on earth, and the frenzy of marketing is almost as intense as it was in the two years after she died. The pace is quickening as we head into these last ten days before the anniversary. CNN just aired a wonderful new documentary, "Growing Up Diana" on its Special Investigation Unit program. (If you missed the program, there are several more showings which are listed below in the TV listings, plus you can buy a DVD from Voxant, which provides custom-made copies of CNN programs, for a cost of $29.95 plus shipping.) You can see clips of interviews with Mary Clarke (her nanny), clips about her parents' custody fight, and footage of Diana's speeches. The section, Memories of Diana, is soliciting video, audio, and recollections from the public. So if you have something unique you would like to submit to them, fill in the form! The biggest highlight of the avalanche of programs is that Lifetime TV network is airing several showings of Princess Diana's historic 1995 Panorama interview, the one that prompted the divorce. It's only been seen a few times on BBC America since its original airing, and has never been released on video, so you won't want to miss this! You could be parked in front of the television all day on August 31 and for much of the weekends of August 25-26 and Labor Day weekend, what with all the programs that will be airing on the marathon of programs, many of them on the WE network, including coverage of the Memorial Service. (Check CNN on August 31, or the BBC site to see if it is streaming live. So far all I can find for it is a listing of radio coverage on BBC4, though I did recall seeing a story in one of the London papers that BBC was going to televise it, so details may emerge closer to time.)

Unfortuantely, the controversy surrounding her death remains unsettled, despite the publication of the exhaustive 871 page Operation Paget report on the accident published in the fall of 2006. (If just the thought of reading so many makes your eyes glaze over, the high points are published in an overview version of 9 pages.) Several judges have come and gone during this past decade, and no definitive vedict has been pronounced by the British legal system about her death. I still continue to believe--and I presume that I am one of a small minority--that it was a tragic accident, caused by a drunk driver, speeding too fast, and compounded by the fact that three of the four persons in the car weren't wearing seat belts.  However, just as few people  in America want to believe that such a charismatic figure like JFK could be taken down by one man, very few persons in the world want to believe that a radiant goddess like Diana could be felled by so prosaic a cause as a car crash on a romantic Saturday night in Paris. And so both will continue to be endlessly pursued as conspiracies...

It will probably be another fifty or seventy-five years before we can get a truly accurate accessment of Diana's place in the history of Britain's royal families. Will she turn out to be as significant as say, Anne Bolelyn, or perhaps, be more like the sad little curiousity Lady Jane Grey, the nine days' wonder Queen? Or will she be as forgotten as Queen Alexandra is today, to whom she was sometimes compared in biographies before she and Charles split up, and before Camilla's presence was known? (A very interesting comparison, since Camilla's great-grandmother, Alice Keppel, was the mistress of Edward VII, who was Queen Alexandra's husband. I wonder if the biographers who made that comparison were trying to send us a message? )

From the latest news, it looks as though Prince William has had second thoughts about his breakup with Kate Middleton, since the two have been spotted going out again recently, though it has also been reported that Kate herself is unsure about whether to take the final, irreversible step of entangling herself for life with "The Firm". (After all, seeing this celebration of their mother's life is a very forceful reminder that no matter who Prince William marries, she can never be the glamourous icon that their mother was, and both the public and the press will inevitably make comparisons that will find the woman in question falling short.)

I'm sorry to have been so lax in updating this site, but as I explained last time around, I am in the midst of working on a book which is consuming a good deal of time, and I spend a lot of time on a computer with it, so I don't feel very compelled to want to do more on a computer with this during the little leisure time that I have.  I hope to be finished with the book in March 2009.
It has absolutely nothing to do with Diana or the Royal Family, and unless you teach drama, or work in theatre, I doubt you would be interested in buying a copy. It's important to me, however, because I hope to get promoted to full professor as a result of doing it. I'm also getting to read a lot of plays by contemporary dramatists from all over the world, which I've found very enjoyable.

One more thing: as I see more late-breaking merchandise of this summer, I will update this site more frequently.
Books
There are so many new books out about Diana this year you may run up a substantial balance on your credit card if you puchase all of them! Scheduled for release in the US are the following:
Anderson, Christopher. After Diana: William, Harry, Charles, and the Royal House of Windsor. Published June 5, 2007
Brown, Tina. The Diana Chronicles. Published June 12, 2007 
Diana, Her Story as Told Through the Pages of People. To be published July 31, 2007
Evans, Richard K. The Ancestry of Diana, Princess of Wales. Published August 15, 2007
Harvey, Glenn. Diana: a Princess Remembered. Includes DVD, Diana: a Princess Remembered . Now available in the US and 
             the UK  
Harvey, Glenn, and Saunders, Mark. Diana and the Paparazzi.  To be published in the US Sept. 28, 2007; already available in
             the UK
King, Larry. The People's Princess: Cherished Memories of Diana, Princess of Wales from Those Who Knew Her Best. Published
             July 17, 2007
McDowell, Colin. Diana Style. Foreward by Manolo Blahnik. To be published August 21, 2007
Mehmet, Mem. Diana in Art. To be published July 15, 2007
McGrady, Darren. Eating Royally: Recipes and Remembrances from a Palace Kitchen. To be published July 10, 2007. (Darren was Diana's chef at Kensington Palace. His web site is The Royal Chef.
Wade, Judy. Diana: The Intimate Portrait. Now available in the US and the UK

And not new, but reissued at an affordable price:
Coward, Rosalind. Diana: the Portrait. The Anniversary Edition.
Other books that are also being reissued are Sarah Bradford's book Diana in mass-market paperback, an anniversary edition of Simone Simmons' Diana: the Last Word, and an anniversary edition of Diana: Unseen Archives, which includes a poster with this edition.
 All of the above books are scheduled to be published in the UK also.

These items below are exclusive to the UK: 
Behlen, Beatrice, Marschner, Joanna, and Murphy, Claire. Diana Fashion and  Style. Published March 16, 2007
Owen, Nicholas. Diana, the People's Princess. Published June 4, 2007. New revised edition of memorial book
               published by ITV in 1997, with additional material about the Memorial Fountain, the inquiries into her death,
               the achievements of the memorial fund, and William and Harry.

Two new thrillers about Diana's death have been published in the UK. They are:
Cain, Tom. The Accident Man. Published July 2, 2007. To be published in the US January, 2008.  (In a story titled, "Still a Beauty, Still Insecure", Cain imagines what she would have been like if she had fastened her seat belt and lived.)
McNamee, Eion. 12:23. Paris. 31 August 1997. Published June 21, 2007; no indication this will  be published in the  US.

If you read French, you might be interested in the novel, Lady D, by Isabelle Rivere and Caroline Babert, which was published by French publisher Robert Laffont in late May 2007. In it, Diana breaks up with Dodi and returns home from Paris to resume her life, and it goes on from there.  The Daily Telegraph reviewed it, noting the increasing interest of the French in Diana, and you can buy the book at the French version of Amazon, which you can find at the bottom of the US version of their home page. If you already have an account at any Amazon--US or UK--you're already set to purchase from them. Unfortunately, there is no information as to when--or if--this book might be translated into English, which is regrettable, since it sounds like a fascinating premise. Certainly much more imaginative than all those novels that focus on conspiracies surrrounding her death!

Majesty Magazine is publishing Diana Remembered, a 132 page, softbound book in commemoration of the tenth annivesary of Diana's death. It can be purchased from the WH Smith stores in the UK, or online from the magazine's website for $19.99.
Among the out-of-print books found in the Diana section of their online store is Georgina Howell's Diana: a Life in Fashion ($35, paperback only)  which I have frequently recommended to people who cannot afford the Christies' auction catalog as the best book available this topic in Diana's life.

Sale books available from Bookcloseouts include the following: Andrew Morton's Diana: In Pursuit of Love for $8.99, Diana: Story of a Princess (hardback) for $4.99, Diana: the Last Word by Simone Simmons and Ingrid Seward for $5.99, Paul Burrell's The Way We Were: Remembering Diana for $5.99 hardcover and $4.99 paperback, Sarah Bradford's Diana for $5.99,
Diana: The Last Year by Donald Spoto for $4.99, Diana and Jackie for $4.99, Diana's Boys for $5.24, and The Windsor Knot for $4.99.  Abridged audiocassette versions of Morton's Diana: Her New Life and Anderson's Diana's Boys are both available for $1.99 each.

The other remainder site, Hamilton Book has the following titles:  the revised edition of Martyn Gregory's Diana: the Last Days for $4.95, Diana: Story of a Princess (paperback) for $3.95, Diana: the Portrait  for $7.95 (the original ed., not the new Anniversary ed.),  the Emmanuels' A Dress for Diana, The Firm: the Troubled Life of the House of Windsor by Penny Junor for $5.95,  Paul Burrell's A Royal Duty for $3.95, and Diana: the Last Word by Simone Simmons and Ingrid Seward for $5.95. 

Royalty Magazine has reduced the price of Jayne Fincher's Travels with a Princess to $28.50. Despite the name, the book is not entirely about Diana-only about one-third of the collection is of her--but does have some enchanting photos of her you won't find anywhere else. And if you're a fan of Jayne's photos of the royal family, you will enjoy having this book. It will be found in the Rare Books section of the store.


CDs, Videos, Streaming Video, and Television Broadcasting 
The Concert for Diana site  lists only one item of commemorative merchandise: the official souvenir commemorative program, which was priced at ten pounds. A limited number of them are for sale on the site for ten pounds plus shipping. (Note: I just received mine in the mail a couple of days ago and it was worth every penny. The program includes a number of pictures of Diana that are seldom seen or that you will not have seen before, including childhood photos supplied from the Spencer family albums. There are also essays about Diana, information about the charities receiving the proceeds, and photos and information about the performers at the concert. A very significant keepsake that will definitely be a treasured part of any collection.)  There is absolutely no mention of a CD or a DVD. They have also posted a gallery of photos taken of performances, of rehearsals the day before, and of candid moments backstage.

VH1 has the entire concert on their site (click on Concert for Diana in the Vspot section, then click on the individual segments and expand them so you can click on individual performers' files), though it doesn't look as though they have included the interviews with people who knew her, or the home movies of Diana as a child, which was shown just before the end of the concert and included footage that I had not seen before. Still, they have included interviews with William and Harry, and interviews with individual performers. 

Finally, at long last, what you all have been waiting for: ABC News has released both the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana, and the funeral of Princess Diana on DVD!!!! They were both released on May 24, 2007, their titles are: Royal Wedding: Prince Charles and Lady Diana  and  The Death of Princess Diana. Both have blue and silver covers and say ABC News Classics on the covers. Search "Princess Diana" in the DVD section of Amazon to find them.

The DVD of Dateline's interview with Prince William and Prince Harry--their first for American television--can be pre-ordered from the NBC Store for $9.99. It will ship after July 10, 2007.

There are two DVDs about which I know nothing but their titles and upcoming release dates: Diana, an Intimate Portrait, which was listed as being available on the DeepDiscount.com site on August 14, 2007, and Diana: Last Days of a Princess, which was listed as being available being available for shipment  from The Discovery Channel store after August 10, 2007. List price is $14.95 for the latter.

BBC America has knocked down the price for a videotape of Prom at the Palace: The Queen's Jubilee Celebrations to $14.98.
If you're interested, just click on shop at the top of the home page, then click on the pop up box of shows in the middle of the page.

For a real bargain, try going to your local Dollar Tree store. Mine had copies of the Princess in Love made for TV movie on DVD for just $1.00 in cardboard folders within the last couple of weeks.

Programs with royal subject matter to be shown in August-September 2007, with all times Eastern Daylight Time:

August 24, 2007--Diana's Last Days--Fox News Channel--10:00PM-11:00PM
August 25,  2007--Special Investigations Unit: Growing Up Diana--CNN--8:00-9:00PM
August 25,  2007--Princess Diana: The Martin Bashir Interview--Lifetime TV Network--8:00PM-9:00PM
August 25,  2007--The Murder of Princess Diana--Lifetime TV Network--9:00PM-11:00PM
August 26, 2007--Diana: Memories of a Princess--TV Guide Network--11:00AM-1:00PM
August 26, 2007--Diana: Memories of a Princess--TV Guide Network--1:00PM-3:00PM
August 26, 2007--Diana's Legacy--BBC America--3:00PM-4:00PM
August 26, 2007--Prince William and Prince Harry: Princess Diana's Legacy--BBC America--4:00PM-5:00PM
August 26, 2007--The Royal Jewels--BBC America--5:00PM-6:00PM
August 26, 2007--Diana: Memories of a Princess--TV Guide Network--5:00PM-7:00PM
August 26,  2007--Princess Diana: The Martin Bashir Interview--Lifetime TV Network--5:00PM-6:00PM
August 26, 2007--The Murder of Princess Diana--Lifetime TV Network--6:00PM-8:00PM
August 26,  2007--Special Investigations Unit: Growing Up Diana--CNN--8:00-9:00PM 
August 26, 2007--Diana: Memories of a Princess--TV Guide Network--8:00PM-10:00PM
August 26, 2007--Diana In the Name of Love--BBC America--8:00PM-9:00PM
August 26, 2007--Diana's Last Day--E!--8:00PM-9:00PM
August 26, 2007--The Art of Diana--BBC America--9:00PM-10PM      
August 26, 2007--Diana's Legacy--BBC America--10:00PM-11:00PM
August 26, 2007--Diana In the Name of Love--BBC America--11:00PM-12:00Midnight
August 27, 2007--The Art of Diana--BBC America--12:00Midnight-1:00AM
 August 27, 2007--Diana's Legacy--BBC America--1:00AM-2:00AM
August 27, 2007--Diana: Memories of a Princess--TV Guide Network--12:00Midnight-2:00AM
 August 27, 2007--Diana's Last Day--E!--9:00AM-10:00AM
 August 27, 2007--Diana's Last Day--E!--6:00PM-7:00PM
August 27, 2007--Biography: Diana: Tragic Love--Biography--9:00PM-10:00PM
August 27, 2007--Diana: Memories of a Princess--TV Guide Network--11:00PM-1:00AM
August 27,  2007--Princess Diana: The Martin Bashir Interview--Lifetime TV Network--11:00PM-12:00Midnight
August 28, 2007--Biography: Diana: Tragic Love--Biography--1:00AM-2:00AM 
August 29, 2007--Diana: Memories of a Princess--TV Guide Network--4:00PM-6:00PM
August 29, 2007--Diana: Memories of a Princess--TV Guide Network--7:00PM-9:00PM
August 30, 2007--Diana: Memories of a Princess--TV Guide Network--12:00Midnight-2:00AM
 August 30, 2007--Diana: Memories of a Princess--TV Guide Network--2:00PM-4:00PM
August 31, 2007--Biography: Diana: Tragic Love--Biography--9:00AM-10:00AM
August 31, 2007--Diana's Last Day--E!--9:00AM-10:00AM
August 31, 2007--Diana's Last Day--E!--1:00PM-2:00PM
August 31, 2007--You Had to Be There: The Royal Wedding--WE--1:00-2:00PM
August 31, 2007--Prince William (made for TV movie)--WE--2:00PM-4:00PM
 August 31, 2007--Biography: Diana: Tragic Love--Biography--3:00PM-4:00PM
 August 31, 2007--Diana: Memories of a Princess--TV Guide Network--3:00PM-5:00PM
August 31, 2007--Diana (made for TV movie)--WE--4:00-6:00PM
August 31, 2007--Diana, Queen of Hearts (1998, the Attenborough documentary)--WE--6:00PM-8:00PM
 August 31, 2007--Diana In the Name of Love--BBC America--8:00PM-9:00PM
August 31, 2007--Diana: Last Days of a Princess--The Learning Channel--8:00PM-10:00PM
August 31, 2007--Diana Revealed--WE--8:00PM-10:00PM
August 31,  2007--Princess Diana: The Martin Bashir Interview--Lifetime TV Network--8:00PM-9:00PM
 August 31, 2007--The Murder of Princess Diana--Lifetime TV Network--9:00PM-11:00PM
August 31, 2007--Diana: Memories of a Princess--TV Guide Network--9:00PM-11:00PM
August 31, 2007--Diana: The Night She Died--WE--10:00PM-11:00PM
August 31, 2007--Who Killed Diana?--WE--11:00PM-12:00Midnight
August 31, 2007--Diana: Last Days of a Princess--The Learning Channel--11:00PM-1:00AM
September 1, 2007--Diana Revealed--WE--12:00Midnight-2:00AM
September 1, 2007--Diana: The Night She Died--WE--2:00AM-3:00AM
September 1, 2007--Who Killed Diana?--WE--3:00AM-4:00AM
September 1, 2007--Biography: Diana: Tragic Love--Biography--4:00AM-5:00AM
September1, 2007--Diana's Dresses--WE--4:00AM-5:00AM
September 1, 2007--Diana's Last Day--E!--8:00AM-10:00AM
September 1, 2007--5 Diana Conspiracy Theories--MSNBC--12:00Noon-1:00PM
September 1, 2007--You Had to Be There: The Royal Wedding--WE--12:00Noon-1:00PM
September1, 2007--Diana's Dresses--WE--1:00PM-2:00PM 
September 1, 2007--Diana: Her True Story--WE--2:00PM-6:00PM
September 1, 2007--Diana: Memories of a Princess--TV Guide Network--4:00PM-6:00PM
September 1, 2007--Diana Revealed--WE--6:00PM-8:00PM
September 1, 2007--Diana: The Night She Died--WE--8:00PM-9:00PM
September 1, 2007--Who Killed Diana?--WE--9:00PM-10:00PM
September 1, 2007--Diana Revealed--WE--10:00PM-12:00Midnight
September 2, 2007--Diana: Memories of a Princess--TV Guide Network--12:00Midnight-2:00AM
September 2, 2007--Diana: The Night She Died--WE--12:00Midnight-1:00AM
September 2, 2007--Who Killed Diana?--WE--1:00AM-2:00AM
September 2, 2007--Diana Revealed--WE--2:00AM-4:00AM
September 2, 2007--Diana: The Night She Died--WE--4:00AM-5:00AM
September 2, 2007--Diana: Memories of a Princess--TV Guide Network--11:00AM-1:00PM
September 2, 2007--5 Diana Conspiracy Theories--MSNBC--3:00PM-4:00PM
September 2, 2007--The Murder of Princess Diana--Lifetime TV Network--10PM-12:00Midnight
September 3, 2007--Diana Revealed--WE--8:00PM-9:00PM
September 3, 2007--Diana Revealed--WE--9:00PM-10:00PM

Doubtless there will also be retrospective programs on some of the major cable news channels or segments on Today or Good Morning America near the end of the month. Watch your TV listings for details. If I see any more listings, I will add them.

Lifetime TV Network is in production of an original movie titled, "The Murder of Princess Diana", which is based on Nigel Botham's book and scheduled for showing in August.

As for upcoming program, there are bound to be a number of programs in July and August, if this story from PR.Inside.com Entertainment News is correct, though probably most of them will be broadcast only in the UK.

Finally, check out Youtube. Entering Princess Diana in the search box will yield thousands of clips. Some are from recent news stories and documentaries about her, others are from sources done in her lifetime.


Charities
The Concert for Diana is being given by Prince William and Prince Harry not only to celebrate their mother's life, but to benefit the six charities of which she was patron at the time of her death: Centrepoint (Prince William has since become its patron), the English National Ballet, Great Ormond Street Hospital, the Leprosy Mission, the National AIDS Trust, and the Royal Marsden Hospital, as well as the Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and the charity that Prince Harry has founded in Lesotho, Sentebale.
Links are on the site of the concert for direct donations, and the concert will be broadcast July 1, 2007 on BBC, on the internet, and on VH-1Classic. Check my television listings below for rebroadcasts of the abridged version.

The Memorial Fund has announced on their web site that in 2005 that they decided that they would no longer license products bearing Diana's name, or use her image for commercial purposes beginning in 2006, and that all their work in the future would be devoted to humanitarian efforts. So there will be no further official commemoratives bearing the seal of the Memorial Fund.
The list shown on the above link is by no means a comprehensive list of all the products that were ever authorized. I have a list of items that I own or have heard of, but I never bought everything, since the garden bench that was once available was something I had no use for, and the  margarine tubs and lottery tickets never made it  to ebay, and I never got one of the bouquets. And there may well be others I never heard of.


Coins, Stamps, and Cards
Stanley Gibbons has a listing on their site for a cover commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of Charles' and
Diana's engagement, which was issued by the Welsh National Assembly. Just type Diana in the search box to find it.

The Westminster Collection offers the 10th anniversary first day cover for 4.99 pounds and a coin with a stunning color photo of Diana on one side and Queen Elizabeth II on the other, one plain for 29.99 pounds and one with a diamond for 145 pounds.

Pobjoy mint is offering coins from several countries this summer including a British Virgin Islands $10 coin commemorating the 10th anniversary of the deaths of Princess Diana and Mother Teresa, and depicting their June 19, 2007 meeting on the coin,
a $10 coin from Sierra Leone depicting Diana and her sons, and a 1 crown coin depicting Diana.  All three are priced at 38.26 pounds apiece for sterling silver, and 8.47 pounds for cupro-nickel.

A wonderful new set of postcards is offered is offered by a photographer in Chicago who covered her 1996 visit there. For $25, you can get a boxed set of 24 cards that have a description on the back of each caardrd, and a card describing her itinerary. If you want a higher quality product, you can spend $125 and get twelve matted photos with an itinerary in a silk box. A portion of the proceeds from either purchase will benefit the  Memorial  Fund.

While searching to see if I could find out if any new postcards had been released in connection with the 10th anniversary, I ran across a story that was published in the Daily Express the first week of May which states that all postcards of Diana had been withdrawn from the gift shops in the royal palaces for fear that they would prove too popular, since it was thought she would outsell every member of the family, including the Queen. (She would certainly outsell Camilla:) With that kind of logic, they ought to close the Testino exhibit, and put Diana's dresses in storage. They are certainly one the biggest draws to Kensington Palace!
Crafts and Puzzles
One of the most memorable of young Diana's clothing was the red pullover sweater (jumper to those of you in the UK) with the flock of white sheep and one single black sheep on it. The shop sold out of it after she was photographed wearing it, and I have had requests over the years from people who wanted to find a pattern of it. If you go to an ebay shop called Pattern Patch, a dealer has a pattern for making one for 1.25 pounds. This is the pattern only--no wool of any kind is included.  The listing for the item is: Princess Diana's black-sheep sweater pattern.
Decorative Items and China
Peter Jones has a special section titled Remembering Diana, which is devoted to 10th anniversary collectibles for the true Princess of Wales.  Items include four stunningly beautiful, high-end, very limited edition collectibles by Caithness glass: two perfume bottles and two paperweights, price 150-350 pounds apiece, and an Aynsley tribute vase costing 1,950 pounds in a limited numbered edition of 36. Fortunately, there are also more affordable collectibles such as a Swarovski paperweight for 29.95 pounds, Aynsley china commemoratives ranging from 22.50-39.50 pounds, and Caverswall china from 45.00-70.00 pounds. At the bottom of each page you will also see links to the Royal Commemorative and the Royal Collection sections.

Thimble Guild has a commemorative 10th anniversary edition thimble, issued by Wedgwood, and exlusive to their site.
It is blue with a raised white rose and costs 69.90 pounds plus shipping.

Edwards China has two of the 10 anniversary Caithness paperweights: one a mass-market item showing Princess Diana's profile and priced at 38.30 pounds ($78.13), and  an edition limited to 75 numbered pieces priced at 276.60 pounds ($564.26). They also still have the Diana Rose Bowl candle holder, issued by Stuart crystal back in 1998 for 23.57 pounds ($48.08). Just type Diana
in the search box to find them. On each Diana product listing, you will also find a box at the left listing other royal commemoratives for sale at their site, including a number of items for the Queen's 80th birthday, the Queen's Dianmond wedding anniversary,  and even a few Queen Mother, Golden Jubilee, Coronation, and Charles and Camilla wedding commemoratives.

Compton Woodhouse has royal china commemoratives you'll be very unlikely to see anywhere else.  Although moving your cursor over the pop-up boxes produces a tab labelled The Royal Family, only three items are listed there. For serious looking,
go to the search box and type in the name of the royal lady you are looking for, and if they have anything in stock, you'll get results. If you type Diana, the search produced four pages of thirty items, including the Forever in Our Hearts musical snowglobe for 40 pounds, 2 different ribbon plates, Diana-the Everlasting Rose bouquet for 119.75 pounds, the Diana Musical
snowglobe which shows her as a bride for 35 pounds, and the Diana at Home figurine for 435 pounds. Queen Elizabeth II has 11 items, including an 80th birthday plate showing her at six different stages in her life, reproductions of the Queen's coronation ring and her pearl necklace, and two figurines. There are also bridal figures of Queen Mary, Princess Margaret, Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, The Duchess of Kent, and Sarah, Duchess of York, though for some strange reason the latter figure isn't for sale in the US or Canada.

If you can't afford the really pricey china sold by places like Peter Jones and Compton Woodhouse, Lambert Souvenirs sells some of the inexpensive, mass-market china pieces sold by the tourist shops at comparatively cheap prices. You can get a 2 cup teapot with Diana on it for 8.50 pounds, mugs for 4.50 pounds, thimbles for 1.00 pound,  pill boxes for 3.50 pounds, and plates ranging from 1.75 pounds-11.50 pounds. These are NOT 10th anniversary pieces. However, the shipping will probably be more than the china itself:)


Diana's Dresses
The exhibition of photographs taken of Diana by Mario Testino has been extended until December 31, 2007. Tickets can be purchased online, but I've never had problems getting into Kensington Palace, so unless your time in London is very limited, you should be able to purchase the day you visit. Admission to the palace includes the exhibit. To commemorate the 10th annivesary of her death, the book,  Diana Fashion and Style, written by Beatrice Behlen and Joanna Marschner, the curators of the Kensington Palace collection, has been published by Pitkin. It is available at the Palace gift shop or at AmazonUK. 

The Pink Ribbons Crusade exhibit, Dresses for a Cause, will finally be on display again this fall at the Appleton Museum of Art of Central Florida Community College in Ocala, Florida, from October 14-December 30, 2007. This exhibit will be extra special because, as they put it on the web site, they have "reunited" at least twenty of the dresses for the first time since the auction.
Among the special events planned are a black-tie gala on October 13.

Diana a Celebration just closed in Cleveland and returned to Althorp for the summer. No news yet about its next stop, but you can purchase items from its gift shop.

Modefabbriek, the largest Dutch fashion trade fair, reports on its web site under the heading, "Loveliness we've Lost" (scroll about halfway down the page to find it) that in commemoration of Diana, ten of the Netherland's leading designers have  "created ten dresses based on what the Princess would wear now if she were still alive". The dresses will be displayed, auctioned off, and all the  proceeds donated to  the  Red Cross, which Diana was affiliated with in the last years of her life.


Dolls
Brandsplace.com has the Diana talking action figure reduced to $23.95.

Cardcow.com has scanned copies of two postcards of Charles and Diana paperdoll postcards from 1983 that were issued by the Coral-Lee company of California. The cards can be purchased for $14.95 apiece, or you can send them as e-cards or scan them to your own computer.

Dollyrama has the following Franklin Mint outfits at reduced prices: the Khaki Ensemble ($55.20), the blue velvet Travolta dress ($49.50), the white suit ensemble ($30.00), and the navy blue suit and hat ($58.65). The Doll Peddlar also has Franklin Mint outfits and dolls, but at much higher prices, including the hard to find gray and white suit at $275.00, and the white chiffon dress at $245.00.

Galina Studio has an exquisite 6" sculpted miniature portrait figurine of Diana in a Vesace gown on their site. It is a very limited edition, and it says to click on the e-mail link to request more photos and information--including, presumably, price? Because, unlike the Romanov family at the top of the page, it does not rule out the possibility of purchasing it.

S'n E, the folks that made the exquisite reproductions of Diana's wedding shoes for the Franklin Mint doll, have made many more shoes for the doll, which you can view online. The wedding shoes are still for sale, as a special order only, for $60 a pair.
A few other designs are available for $24.00. Most of the others don't seem to be for sale, but they are fun to look at. And get a load of those Wellington boots!

Sweet Creations makes some of the best reproductions I've seen of Diana's clothes for the Franklin Mint doll. The outfits are not cheap, but then, the clothes look professionally made. Prices range from $55.00-$225.00 and include accessories.

Someone has scanned Tom Tierney's Princess Diana and Prince Charles paper dolls book  and the Princess Diana Charity Auction Dresses paper dolls book to the web. It's illegal, because the books are still in print, but if you want to look at them, go ahead. But don't deprive him of a sale, because they do retail for very little and the royalties that he receives on each copy would be miniscule, less than $1.00 per book. (Copyright is something I am required to know something about as part of my job.)
Free Stuff
Princess of Sales is Time Magazine's take on this summer's commercial frenzy over the anniversary of Diana's death, but it also has a thoughtful analysis of what Diana's image has meant to the charities with which she was associated.

ColorPrincessDiana has  scanned copies of those old, out-of-print coloring books of Princess Diana. In this case, it's probably legal because they are long out of print, and it is very unlikely the books would ever be re-released. They also, from time to time,  put up scans of some of the old,  out-of-print paper doll books  as well.

Court TV has the legal documents from the lawsuit between the Memorial Fund and Franklin Mint.


Miscellaneous
Ten year memorial reflection stories can be found at Australia's Herald-Sun with its special section, "Diana: 10 years on", which features several picture galleries and eight stories. (Australia really launched her with the 1983 tour. It isn't generally known,
but an obscure souvenir brochure of that tour published for local consumption in Australia was the first to dub Diana "The People's Princess" way back in 1983, long before Julie Burchill used the phrase in the early 90s or Tony Blair used it describing her after her death.) Time Magazine offers the story, "How Diana Transformed Britain".  One of the most interesting analyses of the mass mourning in the wake of her death, and whether its effect was transitory or transformative for the UK is "A Moment ofMadness? ", which appeared in The Guardian.

Been wanting a Princess Diana t-shirt, tote bag, mouse pad, or other item with her face on it, but just couldn't find anything you liked  anywhere? No problem, go to Cafe Press and type Princess Diana in the search box: you'll get your choice of 243 designs that you can have affixed to shirts, caps, bags, posters, prints, postcards, calendars, mugs, stickers, buttons, and magnets. If there is anything else you can think of, doubtless someone will be able to put her picture on that. (Wonder if
anyone could make a Diana lunch box?)

An unusual item that I ran across was Diana, Princess of Wales, Vol. 1 (1981-1996) AP (Associated Press) Archive, and a listing of what seem to be news events. Upon further examination it turned out that the site is a source for moving images from 1896 to the present, and the list is an index to what they hold about Diana.  This isn't meant for casual viewing. If you are thinking of making a documentary, it would be a good resource; check the How We Work section on the left for information about accessing, licensing, etc.

Not long after Princess Diana's death, garden designer David Stevens had planned a wonderful five acre rose garden to be built in her memory under the auspices The Royal National Rose Society, but the project collapsed amidst problems in financing from a source in the US. (I well remember the web site that had been in place with the plans and the sponsor, a woman from either Oklahoma or Texas.) I figured this dream was forgotten, but as it turns out, there is a possibility it may be built by some visionary people in Japan near Mt. Fuji! Since this hasn't come to fruition yet, I don't feel I can yet list this site under Sightseeing, but I will continue to keep an eye out for new developments on this. The Japanese have built some amazingly beautiful gardens, so this could prove to be a very fitting memorial.
Royal Commemoratives and Memorabilia
If you are interested in pinbacks, then you will definitely want to checkout Deb's Royalty Pinbacks, which is the home page of a Canadian private collector who has been kind enough to scan and display many items from her collection online, as well as other royal items that she owns. You can click on each image to view an enlarged image, and click the arrows to go from image to image. Her collection ranges from Queen Victoria to members of the contemporary royal family. She attributes the impetus for beginning her collection to meeting Diana in the 1980s.

One bit of advice I read in an online Frommer's guide about shopping for royal commemoratives, especially Diana commemoratives, was to go to the Portobello Road Market; the guide said it had the largest accumulation of royal commemortives of anyplace in England, with the possible exception of the souvenir shops outside Windsor Castle:) They also said that a lot of it was "quite tacky".  (Well, that's their opinion.)


Royal News Sites
For those of you who want a site that gives you everything Diana, and dedicated to bringing as much as possible related to the tenth anniversary of this summer, then Princess Diana Remembered is the site for you! It has information on rare ephemeral collectibles from the UK, such as giveaways from newspapers, 10th anniversary TV programs, books, magazines, DVDs, news
about upcoming events and merchandise, and older collectibles from the webmaster's own collection, such as pages from  extremely rare paper doll sets, and pages from briefly published UK magazines titled, Diana's World and The Diana Magazine.  An extremely worthwhile site that should not be missed!

The Canadian Royal Heritage Trust is a national educational charity "dedicated to preserving and enhancing the royal  heritage of  Canada". They have a libary and archives in Toronto,  a  museum  in Neustadt,  Ontario,  and they award  an annual cash prize to two students for essays on the Canadian monarchy. They also need a volunteer website editor for the News and Events section of the web site, so if you're Canadian and you think you might be interested, let them know.
Sightseeing
Althorp will be opening this year on July 2 instead of July 1st, probably in order not to compete with the Concert for Diana.
Also different this year: it will be open for the first time on August 21, free of charge, but you still will have to pre-book tickets ahead of time, and tickets are limited four to a group.  (See Visiting Althorp August 31 for details.) Speical events at the estate this year include Shakespeare at Althorp (July 15),  Robin Hood  (July 31),  The Sporting Gun Show (August 11-12), The Hound of the Baskervilles (August 29), The Autumn Garden Show (September 7-9),  and a Jazz Show (Sept. 8). The last day to visit the house and exhibit is September 2. (In looking at the information about the family, I notice that it hasn't been updated to include Charles Spencer's second divorce.) If you want to order anything from the gift shop, you will have to go to the Diana: a Celebration gift shop to do so, since the link for the Althorp shop isn't working.

Diana, Princess of Wales is an exhibit of photographs by a range of noted photographers that is on display in Room 33 at the National Portrait Gallery in London from July 14, 2007 through January 18, 2008. The pictures date from her engagement in 1981 till her last public appearances on behalf of charity in 1997, and include works by Lord Snowden, David Bailey, Terence Donovan, and Mario Testino.

Diana, Princess of Wales, by Mario Testino at Kensington Palace has been expanded  with additional images  and film footage and retitled to Diana: a Princess Remembered to run till December 31, 2007.  Also at Kensington Palace is Princess Line: the Fashion Legacy of Princess Margaret, which is running from April 4, 2007 through September 30, 2007. You really should plan on seeing it if you do visit the Diana exhibit, for Margaret was as stylish and glamorous a young princess as Diana was, and both exhibits are included in the cost of your admission. And if you're fortunte enough to be in London in August, the gardens of Kensington Palace are being used as the setting for the Oxford Shakespeare Company's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. The production is at 7:30 nightly from August 4-August 17, 2007, and tickets are 25 pounds. 

The Art of Italy: Renaissance and Baroque is the current exhibit on display at the Queen's Gallery adjacent to Buckingham Palace until January 20, 2008. You can also see highlights from the exhibition online.

Royal Weddings 1840-1947 is an exhibition in honor of the Diamond wedding annivesary of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, and tells the story not only of their wedding, but the wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, King George V and Queen Mary, and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. The exhibit is composed of pictures, documents, and artifacts, and can be viewed online as well as seeing it at Windsor Castle until May 11, 2008. You can also buy a souvenir book of the exhibit, Five Gold Rings: a Royal Wedding Souvenir Album. (It's due to be published in the U.S. later this year, so wait till then. I'm sure it will be worth getting if it's a good as the 80th birthday album that came out of last year's exhibit.)

Some older royal exhibitions are still available as on-line exhibitions:  Dress for the Occasion, the exhibition of the Queen's dresses from the summer of 2006, Unfolding Pictures: Fans in the Royal Collection,  and  An Exhibtion of Photographs to  Celebrate the 80th Birthday of Her Majesty the Queen.

The Pink Ribbons Crusade exhibit, Dresses for a Cause, will be on display this fall at the Appleton Museum of Art of Central Florida Community College in Ocala, Florida, from October 14-December 30, 2007. This exhibit will be extra special because,
as they put it on the web site, they have "reunited" at least twenty of the dresses for the first time since the auction.  Among the special events planned are a black-tie gala on October 13. Further details will be available as they continue to update their web site.

Clarence House, formerly home of the Queen Mother and now the London residence of Prince Charles. the Duchess of Cornwall, and his sons, is open to the public for guided tours from August 1 through September 30. Tickets must be booked in advance, and you can do that online. (This link allows you to book tickets for several other of the royal palaces as well, including combination tickets for more than one.


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denisem4@mail2princess.com                                   Copyright 1999-2007
This site originally launched July 1, 1999                 This page updated August 23, 2007


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