Kingston residents remember Diana as ‘The People’s Princess’

Gone but certainly not forgotten, at least not here in Kingston. Diana is still being remembered as “The People’s Princess.”

Thursday marked two decades since she died in a car crash in Paris, triggering a flood of public grief.

For those who don’t recall, Princess Diana visited Kingston in October 1991. She and Prince Charles were in town to help commemorate the 150th anniversary of Queen’s University.

Former Kingston Mayor Helen Cooper said she was a big fan of Princess Diana.

“She was a very, very beautiful woman but she was just delightfully unassuming and charming and not in a smarmy way,” said Cooper.

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It was on Oct. 28 when Cooper officially welcomed the Royal couple to town.

“I was just like somebody in the crowd. I was much more interested in observing them than I was at anything else,” said Cooper.

As Princess of Wales, Diana was the colonel and chief of a Kingston-based regiment, a role she took very seriously. In fact, she spent close to two hours during her visit over a quarter of a century ago.

Cooper put it best when looking back at Princess Diana’s visit to Kingston.

“Whenever will we get an experience like that again?”