- Paris City Hall wants to pay tribute to Princess Diana, who died in the city in 1997.
- Associated Press is reporting that the plan is “to name a small plaza after Princess Diana.”
- Currently, the Flame of Liberty monument acts as an unofficial tribute, as it stands close to the entrance of the Pont de l’Alma tunnel where Princess Diana was involved in the car crash that claimed her life.
Paris is proposing a new tribute to Princess Diana, who died following a car crash in France’s capital in August 1997.
Paris City Hall has suggested that a plaza be renamed as “Princess Diana Square”; close to the location where the car crash that claimed Princess Diana’s life took place in 1997. The plaza is currently named for opera singer Maria Callas, but according to The Sydney Morning Herald, a vote will be held by the the city’s council to rename the square.
According to the Associated Press, via TIME, “The site already holds a golden flame-shaped monument in her honor, adjacent to the Alma Tunnel where the accident occurred.”
The Flame of Liberty monument in Paris.
AFP CONTRIBUTOR GETTY IMAGES
While The Flame of Liberty monument acts as an unofficial shrine to Diana, it is actually a replica of the Statue of Liberty’s torch, and was gifted to Paris by the International New York Times in 1989 (then it was known as the International Herald Tribune).
The Telegraph reported on the monument in 2017 writing that its “placement, directly above the tunnel, means many wrongly assume that the torch was built as a memorial for Diana–it is in fact more a symbol of Franco-American friendship.” As such, Paris hopes to create an official tribute to the British royal.
From: Harper’s BAZAAR US
