No flag for Princess Diana's 10th death anniversary

LONDON: Queen Elizabeth II has decided that the Union Jack will not be flown at half-mast above the Buckingham Palace on Princess Diana's tenth death anniversary slated for later this month, according to a daily.

The Queen set aside protocol on the first death anniversary of the Princess of Wales, when the flag was flown, but it was not thought an "appropriate gesture" on this year's occasion, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported here on Saturday.

In fact, the Queen's aides had persuaded her to take the decision on Diana's first death anniversary as absence of the flag from the Palace immediately after the Princess' death symbolised the crisis that had engulfed the monarchy.

It may be mentioned that a memorial service for Diana, who was killed alongside his boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayad in a car crash in Paris in 2007, would he held at The Guard's Chapel in Wellington Barracks close to Buckingham Palace on August 31.

According to a recent poll, a clear majority of people in the United Kingdom felt that Prince Charles' wife - the Duchess of Cornwall -- should not attend Princess Diana's memorial service this year.

Nearly 54 per cent Britons believed the presence of Camilla, famously described by Princess Diana as the third person in her marriage, would be "inappropriate", according to the public poll conducted by 'Daily Mail'.

In fact, women were even more strongly opposed to Camilla's attending the ceremony, with over 61 per cent clearly against.