Unearthed time capsule from Princess Diana yields ’90s nostalgia
A temporal capsule assembled by the late Diana, princess of Wales country – sealed inside the wall of a children’s hospital in London 34 years ago – was recently discovered, which gives a treasure of memories of the 1990s.
Diana was president of Great Ormond Street Hospital from 1989 until her death in 1997. The capsule, a wooden box locked in lead, was sealed in the main entrance to a 1991 ceremony marking the start of the new construction.
Inside were articles chosen by two children who had won a competition sponsored by the children’s television program “Blue Peter”.
The candidates were able to choose eight objects that they felt in life in the 1990s. Diana helped the winners Sylvia Foulkes and David Watson, aged 9 and 11 at the time, with their choices, while adding some of his own.
David chose a CD of Kylie Minogue’s album “Rhythm of Love”, a recycled paper sheet and a European passport, noted The Guardian. Sylvia has chosen a collection of British pieces, five seeds of Kew Gardens trees and a snowflake hologram.
Other articles included a Casio Pocket TV, a solar energy calculator and a photo of the princess herself, said the hospital, plus a copy of the Times of the day when the capsule was sealed. The first-page titles included “the United States rejects Iraqi war plans as close rebels” and “the cooked meats bring out of Sovit-Droves voters”.
The items were more or less intact, apart from a little water damage that is repaired, the hospital said in a statement.
The staff who had worked in the hospital when the time capsule was buried, or those who were born there in 1991, were on site to help remove the capsule earlier this year.
“This brought so many memories when he saw the pocket TV there,” said staff Janet Holmes. The hospital manager, Jason Dawson, found the moment “really moving”, he said to the Times of London, and was amazed at the way cutting-edge technology at the time was now like a toy.
The original plan was to keep the time capsule buried for hundreds of years, but it was removed prematurely to allow the construction of a new children’s cancer center, the hospital said.
Diana was not the first princess in Wales to place a time capsule inside the hospital walls. In 1872, his predecessor Princess of Wales Alexandra sealed a time capsule in an older hospital building, noted the Times. It contained a copy of the Times and a photo of Queen Victoria in a glass jar, but has never been found.
