Mourners from around the world yesterday urged Britain to build a memorial to Princess Diana, whose death two years ago in a Paris car crash sparked an international outpouring of grief.
On the second anniversary of her death, the anger was palpable among the hundreds of fans laying bouquets, cards and cuddly toys at the gates of her London home, Kensington Palace.
"Why no memorial?" asked one placard pinned to the gates. More than 2,000 people signed a petition calling for a permanent memorial to "The People's Princess".
Admirers queued up outside Harrods to sign books of condolence for Princess Diana, who died alongside her companion Mr Dodi Al Fayed, whose father Mohammed owns the opulent store.
A trickle of mourners also paid tribute to Princess Diana at the Paris tunnel where she died in a high-speed car crash.
Camera crews, nearly as numerous as the mourners, filmed as a woman walked away in tears from the group surrounding the monument.
Perhaps anticipating a larger turnout, police had stepped up security, stopping tourists from braving fast-flowing traffic to peer at the pillar into which the Mercedes carrying the Princess of Wales and her companion smashed just after midnight on August 31st, 1997.
In an apparent attempt to turn it into a memorial to celebrities who died young, a picture of John F. Kennedy jnr, who died in a plane crash in July, had been pinned on the monument in past days. It was no longer there yesterday.
Earl Spencer spent yesterday at his Althorp estate in Northamptonshire in "quiet contemplation" on the second anniversary of the death of his sister.