Queen commends NI stonemasons

It took 32 weeks to cut the stone for the memorial

A County Down firm that cut the stone for a memorial to Princess Diana has been given the Royal seal of approval.

The Queen paid tribute to S McConnell and Sons in Kilkeel at the official opening of The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain.

The firm, which is located at the foot of the Mourne Mountains, used state-of-the-art technology to cut 545 pieces of Cornish granite for the fountain.

It took 32 weeks to produce the intricate stonework for the £3.6m memorial.

During the ceremony at Hyde Park in London on Tuesday, the Queen congratulated those who had created the memorial.

"I thank both the design team for the imagination which they have brought to this project and those who have realised their concept with such care and craftsmanship," she said.

"I believe that you have given the park, at the very heart of our capital city that Diana knew so well, a highly original memorial which captures something of the essence of a remarkable human being."

Diana's sons, Princes William and Harry, attended the ceremony and met several members of the McConnell family.

Alan McConnell said: "I told Prince William that the family had worked on the stone and he said it was very impressive."

He added: "They're a credit to their mother and father."

The Prince of Wales, Earl Spencer and other members of the late princess's family also attended the event.

The Queen paid tribute to S McConnell and Sons

The Queen added: "By any standards, Diana's tragic death held the attention of the world.

"Central to this was the extraordinary effect Diana had on those around her."

She paid tribute to her "wider legacy" and her ability "not only to touch people's lives but to change them".

After the ceremony, the fountain was opened to the public.

The memorial's American creator Kathryn Gustafson said the design had aimed to reflect aspects of Princess Diana's personality.

'Unstuffy person'

"The Princess was a contemporary woman. I wanted very much it to be a place you walked into. A total environment - not an object you walked around.

She was so inclusive that we wanted it to be something you felt you were part of," she said.

Rosa Monckton, chair of the Memorial Foundation Committee set up in 2001 to oversee the project, said she did not want to have a colossal fountain.

"Something that becomes a spectacle. I feel that so much of her life she was a spectacle and this circle of water is somewhere children can play and people can go in and out," she said.

"One of the criticisms I have read is that this fountain is not grand enough. One point I want to make is she was not grand. She was the most unstuffy person I think I know."