LONDON (Reuters) – The late Princess Diana has been honoured with a “blue plaque” at her former flat in west London where she lived before she became engaged to British heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles.
The plaque is on the building that was her home between 1979 and 1981 – 60 Coleherne Court – a property close to the King’s Road in Chelsea.
Diana, who died aged 36 in a Paris car crash in 1997, shared the apartment with three friends, including Virginia Clarke, who helped to unveil the plaque at a ceremony on Wednesday.
“Those were happy days for all of us and the flat was always full of laughter,” Clarke said. “Diana went off to become so much to so many. It’s wonderful that her legacy will be remembered in this way.”
Diana described her years at the property as “the happiest time of her life”, according to Andrew Morton’s book Diana, In Her Own Words.
London’s blue plaque scheme, run by English Heritage, highlights buildings where famous figures from the past lived and worked.
Princess Diana’s blue plaque reads: “Lady Diana Spencer later Princess of Wales 1961-1997. Lived here 1979-1981.”
“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,” said Andrew Boff, chairman of the London Assembly.
(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill. Editing by Jane Merriman)
