People News

Diana fans pay tribute in Paris

Aug 31, 2007, 14:54 GMT

Paris - 'She was just so beautiful. I always thought this flame was for Diana,' American Lynn Jeffress said Friday at the monument above the tunnel beside the Seine River where Princess Diana met her death exactly 10 years ago. Well-wishers look over messages to the late Princess Diana, Princess of Wales at Kensington Palace in London, 31 August 2007. Thousands of people flocked to the palace to pay their respects to Diana who died 10 years ago in a car crash in Paris. EPA/ANDY RAIN

Well-wishers look over messages to the late Princess Diana, Princess of Wales at Kensington Palace in London, 31 August 2007. Thousands of people flocked to the palace to pay their respects to Diana who died 10 years ago in a car crash in Paris. EPA/ANDY RAINThe 62-year-old Jeffress, who lives in the French capital, was one of several dozen people who came to pay tribute to Diana at the flame on the Pont d'Alma, a replica of the flame borne aloft by the Statue of Liberty in New York. The monument was erected in 1987 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Paris-based English-language daily The International Herald Tribune, but it became a pilgrimage site for fans of Diana almost immediately after she was pronounced dead in a Paris hospital. Peter Wilson, a surgeon from London, also stopped at the site on his way to the Eiffel Tower, just across the Seine. 'She was the icon of modern beauty,' Wilson said. 'My heart goes out to her sons. They were just boys when their mum died.' Flowers, photos and other objects of adoration surround the flame, such as gifts from fans of 'the people's princess' from around the world. Canadian Jocelyn Heber left a flowering plant at the flame and said, 'She was the princess of hearts. She did so much good.' © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur