Diana wasn’t the colour of a frog or a broad bean, for God-sake Wills and Harry!

The Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex united to unveil the official statue of Diana, Princess of Wales, saying “every day we wish she were still with us”.

William and Harry were at Kensington Palace’s Sunken Garden, on what would have been their mother’s 60th birthday.

But did they really like the statue? After all they ‘stumped up’ for a least part of it?

They were spotted guffawing at one point … but it was a more-or-less private ceremony, so a private joke perhaps?

However, the statue, by British sculptor Ian Rank-Broadley, is yet another green one for God-sake!

And nobody should be laughing at that!

Now this is only my own opinion – but it is a bit rank Ian. And it does make me want to ask, why does the middle-crass world of sculpting think the woman who was thought of as one of the most beautiful in the world by so many, looks pretty in green?

When I met Diana, very, very briefly and so many moons ago, she wasn’t the colour of a frog, or a broad bean or a bit of mildewed bronze.

She was a natural beauty, vibrant and, yes, alluring and mysterious.

This new statue – partly paid for by the princes of dysfunctionality apparently – is reminiscent of that very strange tribute which has graced the former mining town of Bloxwich in the West Midlands for the last two decades.

It stood alone by the side of a busy road an outlandish and often neglected relic mawkishly parked outside a funeral directors.

The granite statue was supposed to have been the centrepiece of an exhibition of burial art in May 2000.

But algae turned it green, a far cry from its first look when Black Country stonemason Andrew Walsh carved it in black granite.

At the time, the plan for the the Indian granite statue was to make it the centrepiece of the burial art exhibition. It was scrapped apparently after complaints by Earl Spencer, the younger brother of Princess Diana.

And when Bloxwich and Walsall residents called for the statue  to go on display at the New Art Gallery in Walsall, the idea was rejected by councillors along with a local MP, saying – tastelessly –  that the statue “looked more like Diana Ross”.

The statue was  dealt another blow when the Queen expressed her displeasure about a plan to display it at Walsall bus station.

Finally this particular Diana found a resting place outside the funeral director’s shop.

However, in recent years the statue has started to age.

The weathered figure had green moss over the hair and neckline. Bosses at the firm responded to feedback and cleaned the princess.

Jacky Campbell of Strongs Memorials, which is apparently incorporated into Andrew Walsh Funerals, was quoted as saying: “Moss build up will always be an issue with natural carved granite stone but we always endeavour to clean it off as often as we can.

“We hope that nobody has felt she has been neglected as we receive only positive feedback about her.”

Walsall councillor Richard Worrall has called for a new home for the statue. He said: “I think it deserves prominence somewhere in the borough, it’s a bit of okay public art and we don’t do too well on public art in Walsall. I think it deserves display.”

Recently, members of Facebook group Walsall in Pictures complained over its appearance.

And now we have another mildewy-looking memory of one of the most beautiful women in the world.

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