Ten years on from Princess Diana's death, a small club of Germans refuses to let the candle in the wind sputter out, meeting every month to mull the details of the royal icon's life.
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Diana is gone but not forgottenImage: AP
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The "Lady Di Memorial Club" in Hameln -- the Central German town of Pied Piper fame -- may only have 12 regular members. But while they lack in numbers, they've commitment in spades.
"We may be a small group, but as far as I know there's no club like it in the world," founder and head Diana memorializer Evelyn Marie Seidel told the AFP news agency.
The 58-year-old teacher's assistant has converted the largest of the four rooms in her apartment into a shrine -- replete with photos and paintings of Di in her prime and her two sons, William and Harry.
"It's our clubroom now," Seidel said. "I don't use it any more for private purposes."
Marmelade and gin
This famous songster is also a Diana devoteeImage: AP The monthly club meetings begin with the obligatory lighting of a candle. After that the members are all given a photo of the woman formerly known as Diana Spencer and asked to share their memories and feelings about her.
"Some members know a lot about clothes and can tell that she's wearing something by this or that designer," Seidel said. "Others say that she looks especially happy in a particular photo."
For the tenth anniversary of Diana's death, the hardcore Diana devotees are planning to make their annual pilgrimage to London to mark the day of her fatal car crash in Paris.
But the group is also about fun -- and nor just over-earnest mourning. At each meeting, Anglophile club members enjoy tea, scones and a healthy swallow of gin.
"The gin, however, is for the Queen Mum," Seidel said.
