The most poignant sight at today’s service to mark the tenth anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, will be the empty seats.

Princes William and Harry chose the Guards’ Chapel at Wellington Barracks, close to Buckingham Palace, because it is the closest thing to a mother church for their regiment, the Household Cavalry. It can hold a congregation of 700, but only about 450 seats will be filled.

Most prominent among the missing will be the Duchess of Cornwall, who will spend the day with members of her family at Raymill House, Wiltshire, the marital home she held on to after her divorce and which she now uses regularly as a bolt hole from the strains of royal life.

This weekend she will fly off with a group of women friends, but without her husband, on a long-planned sunshine holiday in the Mediterranean, as she has done in late summer for several years. The princes had invited her to the service, but last Sunday she bridled at the pressure from her husband and his advisers to attend, and announced that she would not be there.

A Perrier with the Princess

Peter Stothard, former Editor of The Times, recalls a discussion with Diana about memos, mistresses and the media

Multimedia

• Interview on the latest revealing Diana biography

BACKGROUND

• The explosion of vileness that followed her death

• Why I could not mourn Diana

Related Internet Links

• Diana - 10 years on

Related Links

• Camilla to stay away from memorial

Multimedia

• Pictures: the death of Diana

She never wanted to be, feeling that her presence would be inappropriate; she finally made up her mind when a number of other guests said that they would return their invitations if she turned up.

Three former close members of the Princess’s staff have been blacklisted from the invitation list, which was drawn up by the princes and their aunt and uncle, Earl Spencer and Lady Sarah McCorquodale. Paul Burrell, her butler, Patrick Jephson, her private secretary, and Ken Wharfe, her police protection officer, have all blotted their copybooks by publishing memoirs of their time at Kensington Palace.

Of the former aides who have written books, Mr Burrell has come in for particular criticism from the princes, who have accused him of “cold and overt betrayal”. Mr Burrell will be the US today, remembering his former employer in private.

Many of the Princess’s former associates will, however, be present, including Trevor Rees-Jones, the sole survivor of the crash in which she died, and Barbara Barnes, who was nanny to her sons when they were young. Clarence House last week did a U-turn over Victoria Mendham, who had been the Princess’s secretary but who was not included on the original guest list. Pleading an oversight, Clarence House has now included her in the congregation.

Thirty-five members of the Royal Family will attend the service. They will be led by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, who travelled down from Balmoral on the royal train last night and will fly back to Scotland this afternoon. The Duke of York will be absent on a trade mission to the Far East, and his former wife, the Duchess of York, who was once close friends with the Princess, no longer attends royal functions as she feels uncomfortable at them.

No members of the public have been invited; the princes said that they want the service to be an essentially private occasion, and that the public had its opportunity to remember her at a Wembley concert held last month on what would have been her 46th birthday.

Gordon Brown will attend along with his two immediate predecessors at 10 Downing Street, Tony Blair and Sir John Major. Mr Blair had Alastair Campbell, his press secretary at the time, coin the phrase “people’s princess”, while Sir John gave the princes much behind-the-scenes help and advice after she died.

Mohamed Al Fayed, whose son Dodi was killed with the Princess, has not been invited, although one of his daughters will represent him. Mr Fayed plans to hold a two-minute silence in Harrods this morning. The store will also have a memorial window display.

More than 100 representatives of the charities Diana was associated with have been invited, although most will never even have met her. Personal friends who did meet her and who will be in the congregation include Sir Elton John, who sang at her funeral, Sir Cliff Richard, Lord Attenborough and the photographer Mario Testino, who took some the best-remembered images of the Princess.

The order of service includes many of Diana’s favourite hymns and music. Her sons and sister will give readings while Dr Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, will give an address. Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, will not be present, but he has written a prayer for the service.

A sculpture representing ten golden dandelions was unveiled yesterday in Kensington Gardens near the Princess’s former home, where large numbers of people are expected to gather today to lay floral tributes, as they have done on every anniversary of her death.

As well as Earl Spencer and Lady McCorquodale, the Spencer contingent will be joined by Lady Jane Fellowes, the Princess’s sister, Raine, Countess Spencer, her stepmother, and 12 of the Princess’s 17 godchildren.

Missing, because neither is yet a fully fledged royal, will be Kate Middleton and Chelsy Davy, William and Harry’s respective girlfriends. The state of Prince William’s relationship with Ms Middleton remains the subject of fevered speculation.

Sentiment and ceremony

Service Guards’ Chapel, Wellington Barracks, Birdcage Walk, London SW1, noon1 pm. There will be no admission to the public

Broadcast Live on BBC One (11am-1.15pm) and on ITV (11.45am-1.30pm), CNN, MSNBC (US), CBC (Canada), France 2 and Dutch public service TV

Charities Those represented include Landmine Survivors’ Network, Help the Aged, the Trust for Sick Children in Wales, the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Centrepoint, British Lung Foundation and the National Aids Trust

Music Performed by the choirs of the Guards’ Chapel, the Chapel Royal, Eton College, and an orchestra from the Royal Academy of Music, of which the Princess was president. They will be directed by Tim Horton and Andrew Gant

Flowers English roses and rosemary, for remembrance, which will be distributed to several of Diana’s charities after the service

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• The bright side of this winter rain
• Story behind the picture: Snow Leopard, 2008
• Times Charity Appeal: The Place2Be