20th Anniversary of Princess Diana's Death to Be Honored With Yearlong Celebration

Prince Harry and Prince William are reportedly involved in planned events

By Francesca Bacardi Jan 12, 2017 4:15 PMTags
ESC: Princess DianaGeorges De Keerle/Getty Images

It will be two decades since Princess Diana's tragic passing.

To mark the 20th anniversary, The Diana Award, a charity established to promote the Princess's belief in the positive power of young people, will commemorate her life and compassion with multiple events, including a major international award, a groundbreaking app and a new holiday, National Kindness Day.

The late Diana's brother, Earl Spencer, will be involved with planning the yearlong celebration. Spencer will host an exhibit at his family's home that will showcase people "Walking in Her Shoes." He will also host a gala fundraising event in June for the Diana Award. In honor of Prince Harry and Prince William's late mom, the charity has also launched its international Legacy Award for 20 exceptional young people who have excelled at creating positive social change. 

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Wills and Harry are likely to be involved with some of the events taking place this year, but no details have been released.

Both the Duke of Cambridge and Harry have been more vocal recently about their late mother. Earlier this week Prince William admitted to a family at a London bereavement center that he struggled in the period immediately after his mom passed away in a car crash.

"He told my son that, when his mum died, he was 15 at the time, and he was very angry and found it very difficult to talk about it," Lorna Ireland told a royal correspondent.

Prince Harry addressed his mom's death in a new ITV documentary, Prince Harry in Africa. "I never really dealt with what had actually happened, so there was a lot of buried emotion and I still didn't even want to think about it," he said.