ISSUE 1701Friday 21 January 2000
Peter Pan inspires Diana memorial
By Robert Hardman

THE public received its first glimpse yesterday of the £1.3 million Diana, Princess of Wales children's playground to be built next to her former London home.     Memorial plan: an artist's drawing of the new Diana, Princess of Wales playground  It will be roughly twice the size of the existing Kensington Gardens play area and will boast a strong Peter Pan theme, in honour of J M Barrie, the author of the children's story, who funded the original site.  A 50ft pirate ship with a 35ft mast and surrounded by sand will be the focal point. The playground will also have a wigwam village, a tree house encampment and a "movement and musical garden" with a wooden xylophone and a water piano.  A "seascape path" with the sound of crashing waves will lead children to "mermaid's fountain" via a sleeping crocodile which squirts water when awoken. Elsewhere, an under-threes' area will contain special swings and the entire area has been designed with the disabled in mind.  Adrian Wikeley of Land Use Consultants, which has designed the playground, said: "For too long, children have had to suffer sterile and often boring playgrounds which feature an assorted collection of unimaginative equipment surrounded by wide expanses of asphalt.  "This new facility is intended to set a new precedent for playground design with a site which allows children opportunities to develop their innate spontaneity and curiosity."  The consultants were appointed by the Royal Parks Agency in conjunction with the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Committee. Earlier this week, the committee announced that it is to commission a fountain in one of the Royal Parks. 19 January 2000: Memorial fountain for Princess confirmed 23 December 1999: Diana park is Peter Pan treat for children 23 September 1999: Diana memorial team to discuss fountain in park

Royal Family Snubs Diana Memorial?

A three million pound ($4.8 million) playground and seven-mile (11 km) walkway dedicated to Diana -- the former wife of heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles -- is due to be opened in London's Kensington Gardens Friday.

 Despite invitations to Buckingham Palace and Charles from the Diana Memorial Committee, set up after her death in a Paris car crash in 1997, no member of the royal family would be present, the Mirror said.

It quoted an unnamed source close to the committee as accusing Charles's office of trying to distance the prince from Diana so they could promote his long-time lover, Camilla Parker Bowles.

``The campaign to promote Camilla is becoming pretty intense and anything that reminds people of the princess is being pushed aside,'' the source said.

No immediate comment was available from Buckingham Palace or Charles's office on the report.

Charles and Camilla have been gradually emerging into the public limelight as a couple, although surveys still show that many Britons blame her for the break-up of the prince's marriage to Diana.