A time capsule buried by the late Princess Diana has been dug up after 34 years underground, just days before the anniversary of her death
A time capsule buried by the late Princess Diana has been dug up after 34 years underground, with its contents showcasing the best of 1990s nostalgia, such as a Kylie Minogue album and a handheld pocket television.
The capsule was first buried by the late Princess in March 1991 to mark the laying of the foundation stone of the Great Ormond Street Hospital’s Variety Club Building, which opened in 1994.
While the objects were intended to stay underground for at least 100 years, the relics have now been resurfaced, just days before the 28-year anniversary of Princess Diana’s untimely death. It comes as Meghan Markle makes another brutal swipe at royal life – and reveals actual legal name.
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The wooden box contained Kylie Minogue’s Rhythm of Love album, a solar-powered calculator, tree seeds in a bottle and a collection of each British coin up to the value of £1 to mark the 20th anniversary of decimalisation.
Although much of the memorabilia suffered damage by moisture, the final three pieces included as part of the contest were a sheet of recycled paper, a European passport and a snowflake hologram. A copy of the day’s Times, to mark the date the capsule was buried, was also found in the container.
The objects were originally chosen by two children who had won a Blue Peter competition and were intended to represent life in the 1990s.
The capsule was buried with the intention that it would stay underground for a century, but was dug up as the construction of a new children’s cancer centre begins. Staff at the hospital, either born in 1991 or already working at the hospital in 1991, helped to remove Diana’s capsule.
Princess Diana, who died at the age of 36 in August 1997, became president of Great Ormond Street Hospital in 1989 and visited the children’s hospital several times before her death.
Just a few months after burying the capsule, her son Prince William, then eight years old, spent two nights in GOSH in June 1991 with his parents after suffering a fractured skull following a blow to the head from a golf club.
Janet Holmes, senior health play specialist, who was working at GOSH in 1991, shared her favourite item from the capsule: “It brought back so many memories seeing the pocket TV in there. I had bought one for my husband back in the day, for when he had a break whilst driving his coach around the country. They were very expensive then!”
The burial of the time capsule was similar to a ceremony in 1872, in which the then-Princess of Wales, Alexandra, sealed and buried one at the same hospital. Unlike Diana’s relics, the time capsule from 1872 has never been found.
