THE family of the late Diana, Princess of Wales have rededicated her grave, almost 20 years after her death, at a private ceremony conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury. It was held at Althorp House, the family estate of the former Princess of Wales, in Northamptonshire, on what would have been her 56th birthday, on Saturday.

The service of “prayer and reflection” was attended by her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, who were 15 and 12 years old when their mother was killed in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997. Lambeth Palace declined to comment on what it said was a private event.

The Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George, and Princess Charlotte also attended the small gathering, alongside Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer. Prince Charles was in Canada concluding an official visit to mark the 150th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation.

Princes William and Harry have commissioned a sculpture of their mother to mark the 20th anniversary of her death. It will be placed in the public grounds of her former residence, Kensington Palace. Her burial site, on Oval Lake in the Althorp estate, and the surrounding grounds were extensively redesigned by the Spencer family earlier this year, after an accusation that her memorial there had been neglected.