Paul Burrell explains the thinking behind the garden

But residents in London's exclusive Kensington fear the area being overrun by hordes of tourists, and are demanding to see more details of what is being proposed.

However former royal butler Paul Burrell, 39, who is now fundraising manager for the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fund assured them there would be no "Diana Disneyworld" in the gardens surrounding the Princess's former home.

An oasis of calm in central London - how the gardens look now

He was speaking an exhibition opened to try to gauge public opinion on exactly what to do with the 27-acre site surrounding the Princess's former home, Kensington Palace.

£10m is being spent on the tribute, which will be placed directly behind the gates to Kensington Palace where mourners laid millions of bouquets in the days following the Princess's death.

Reassurances: Diana's former butler Paul Burrell

Preliminary proposals include a floodlit fountain and a garden for children.

Mr Burrell said: "It is to be a very simple, quiet place for contemplation. It is not going to be commercialised beyond recognition."

He believed it was crucial that residents' concerns were allayed, but said the garden is very popular with people who have written to the committee.

Exercise in deceit

Kensington resident and newspaper columnist Brian Sewell demands to see more detail

However local residents arriving at the exhibition were less than impressed with what they saw, believing there to be a lack of detail.

Newspaper columnist and Kensington resident Brian Sewell launched a furious attack on the presentation, which features a plan showing the areas of the garden to be affected but offers no impressions on how they could change.

Brian Sewell is an angry Kensington resident

He called it "an exercise in deceit", and demanded concrete proposals for people to comment on.

"If they want a tribute to Diana, then they should leave the gardens as they were when she was alive. This is what people want to see, not some creation overrun by tourist buses."

He believed the memorial committee was trying to get the plan in "through the back door, and in so doing, ruin one of the finest parks in west London."

But a spokesman for the committee rejected this, saying: "The whole idea of this exhibition is to seek the opinion of residents and others before opening the design to international competition."

How the palace looked in the days after the tragedy.

A decision on the exact layout will be made later this year following the results of the consultation exercise and a separate environmental impact survey.

But residents hope the project will not get that far if their campaign succeeds.

Ethne Rudd, of the Kensington Society said: "The exhibition tells you nothing but it gives us the chance to get everybody to come and object and put an end to this.

She said the gardens would be turned into a tourist trap.