Kate’s daunting task of following Diana as Princess of Wales

As the new Princess of Wales, Catherine is drawing comparisons with her superstar predecessor, Diana, whose legacy still frames Britain’s view of its royal family.

Diana, Britain’s previous Princess of Wales. Picture: AFP

As the new Princess of Wales, Prince William’s wife, Catherine, is drawing comparisons with her superstar predecessor, William’s late mother Diana, whose legacy still frames Britain’s view of its royal family.

Outside Kensington Palace in London, where Diana continued to live after separating from the new King Charles III in 1992, members of the public voiced their views on the task facing Catherine.

“Diana will never be forgotten, but I’m sure she’ll continue the legacy. And she’ll be a wonderful tribute to Diana,” said Keith Lowing, 73, of Catherine.

The retiree and his wife, Kathleen, were sat on a bench in the palace gardens, where Diana and King Charles’s sons William and Harry unveiled a statue of the late princess only last year.

The death of the Queen saw Britain enter a new era, after her 70 years on the throne, but the accession of Charles also heralded another symbolic change: the first Princess of Wales since Diana’s death 25 years ago.

Before Diana, the previous Princess of Wales was Mary of Teck, from 1901 until 1910, when her husband was King George V.

The title of Prince of Wales is granted by monarchs to their eldest living son. Charles was created Prince of Wales aged nine in 1958, and on his first full day as king, he gave the title to 40-year-old William. The Prince of Wales’s wife becomes the Princess of Wales. Charles’s second wife, Camilla, was entitled to use the style Princess of Wales after their wedding in 2005 but chose not to do so as the title was so strongly associated with Diana, who had publicly blamed Camilla for being the third person in her marriage to Charles.

Camilla used her husband’s secondary title and became the Duchess of Cornwall.

Diana remains a revered figure in Britain and around the world. Her death aged 36 in car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997, left her frozen in time and a near-saintly figure to many.

Maria Aragon, a 21-year-old Spanish tourist, said outside Kensington Palace: “Diana was a very important princess and was very much loved by the public. She doesn’t represent the crown so much as the people.”

Not far from the new Diana statue, Rebecca Brunswig, a 74-year-old US tourist, recalled her “many humanitarian visits”, her commitment to AIDS sufferers and her “wonderful compassion for the less fortunate”.

Even before Catherine married William in 2011, questions arose as to whether she could measure up to Diana, whose engagement ring she wears. Since joining the royal family, she has conducted herself with poise and projected a happy family image, choosing her charitable engagements carefully as she raises princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte.

Outside Kensington Palace, lawyer Selma White, 40, said: “She’s very elegant, beautiful. And she represents the monarchy very well. I love Diana, I also love Kate, but I don’t think you can compare them, and people shouldn’t.”

AFP