Although Diana died in a car crash in Paris, city officials want to distance themselves from memories of her, writes Joelle Dideric.
Tourists continue to flock to the entrance of the Paris road tunnel where Princess Diana died in a high-speed car crash five years ago.
This week, foreign visitors filed past the "Flame of Liberty" monument that sits above the Pont de l'Alma tunnel where Diana, her companion Dodi Al Fayed and driver Henri Paul were killed on August 31st, 1997.
In the years after Diana's death, the replica of the Statue of Liberty torch became a rallying point for mourners who covered it in graffiti, tributes and flowers. Now the city of Paris has cleaned up the monument and surrounded it with safety barriers, keeping tourists at a safe - and impersonal - distance. "We've come to see just exactly where she died," said Sandra Mason (36), a student midwife from Sunderland, as she took snaps of the gleaming golden flame.
"Even though I know she wasn't French, it would be nice to see some kind of memorial," she added.
Despite the interest from tourists, Paris City Hall is keen to distance itself from memories of the crash. It has dropped plans to name a street or square after Diana, citing opposition from the British royal family.
"Diana does not concern us very much, that is what we're trying to make people understand," said a spokesman for Paris City Hall. "We are not particularly interested in her because she wasn't French, even if it happened in France." Neither the city authorities nor the British embassy plan any special events to commemorate today's anniversary.
The silence on the French side of the Channel has been so deafening that some French journalists have speculated about a conspiracy by the British establishment to stifle memorial plans by France, its arch-rival.
Paris city council is keen to play down its only official tribute to Diana, a plaque at the entrance of a vegetable garden that is used to teach children about the environment. "It is a dedication, if you will, like the type of dedication you might find at the start of a book," said Beatrice Annic, who runs the garden in the central Marais district. "It is absolutely not a memorial. I have no idea if people come here for that purpose," she added.
At the Pont de l'Alma, tourists were divided over the need for a more grandiose tribute to Diana. "I don't think there's a need. There's only so much and so long it could go on for," said a British student Lucy Krys (17). Some, like retired South African Benedict Kubjane, were surprised to learn the "Flame of Liberty" was not for Diana. - (Reuters)