Princes stage concert to burnish Diana's image

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Princes Harry (R) and William address the crowd at the start of the Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium in London July 1, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)


BEIJING, July 2 -- Princess Diana's sons staged a charity concert in her memory Sunday which they hope will quell her critics and celebrate her humanitarian achievements.

On what would have been Diana's 46th birthday, Princes William and Harry lined up a string of pop veterans from Rod Stewart to Duran Duran for a six-hour show being broadcasted to 145 countries.

The princes asked Elton John to reprise "Candle in the Wind" which he sang at Diana's funeral in 1997. He had vowed then he would never play it again but Harry said: "He's helped massively just by saying yes (to the concert) and obviously a personal request from us is to do 'Candle in the Wind' again." Diana's death in a Paris car crash 10 years ago provoked an unprecedented outpouring of grief from the normally reserved British and some commentators fear the concert could strike a mawkish note.

"There might even be a danger of the whole event descending into a cringingly sentimental affair," The Daily Telegraph said of preparations for the music and dance extravaganza at London's refurbished Wembley Stadium.

Prince William is sharply aware of the mixed press his mother has received over the past decade as a glamorous humanitarian who bemoaned the media for hounding her but cultivated them to burnish her image.　

"After 10 years there's been a rumbling of people bringing up the bad and over time people seem to forget or have forgotten all the amazing things she did," William said of his mother whose causes ranged from AIDS sufferers to land mine victims.

"She's not here to defend herself when she gets criticized and so we want to do that instead and this is the best way of us getting that across to people," William said Sons stage concert to burnish Diana's image in a BBC interview before the concert.

Other young royals attended the concert along with William and Harry but their father, Prince Charles, who divorced Diana in 1996, did not appear.