The royal guest list for Diana's memorial ceremony is now very exclusive

London, UK - The guest list for the July 1 ceremony to honor the late Princess Diana with a statue will now only include Diana's immediate family. A second event has been scheduled for September.

Princess Diana, the day after her wedding in 1981.
Princess Diana, the day after her wedding in 1981.  © IMAGO / ZUMA/Keystone

The event that was supposed to unite Prince William and Prince Harry is going to be a lot smaller than planned, according to the Daily Mail.

The ceremony was originally scheduled for 2017, on the 20th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana. Diana's family however were not impressed with the original artistic proposals for the statue, and felt that no artist had truly been able to capture the essence of the late princess.

Additionally, the various royal family members were at odds about what aspect of Diana's short life should be the focus of the commemorative statue.

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The statue was eventually completed in 2018, but a proper unveiling ceremony wasn't possible due to a spate of major events at the time, including the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

Added to that list was their departure to America after formally leaving the duties of the royal family behind. The rift between Harry and his brother William was reportedly amplified by couple's tell-all interview with Oprah, during which a lot of painful memories and accusations against various members of the family came to light.

However, the decision was made to honor Diana's legacy in a beautiful ceremony at Kensington Palace on July 1, which would have been her 60th birthday. Now it looks like the guest list will be pared down significantly due to Covid-19, just as happened at the recent funeral for Prince Philip, and will be limited to just members of Diana's family and the princes.

A second, larger celebration will occur in September and will include original guests such as Diana's personal friend, Elton John.

The UK is currently experiencing another resurgence of the pandemic due to the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus.

Cover photo: IMAGO / ZUMA/Keystone

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