1st of July 2007 - Wembley Stadium
Taking a deep breath as she walked through the halls of Wembley Stadium, Adeline tried to ignore the chills that she felt as she heard the crowds cheering from only a few feet away.
Months of planning between her and her brothers had led to this moment, they had organised many of the world's most famous entertainers and singers to perform; it was being broadcast in 140 different countries across the world with the potential audience of 500 million.
The proceeds from the concert were going to many of Diana's charities along with charities that William and Harry were now patrons of; Adeline didn't have any patronages yet, her first year of university under her belt, she was determined to focus on her education before settling into royal life if she could help it.
Today would have been Diana's forty-sixth birthday, with the tenth anniversary of her passing coming up on 31st of August of that year; it didn't seem unreal that 10 years had passed since their mother had died and they had been without her.
There were many members of the royal family in attendance along with the Spencers' to celebrate the life of Diana; although Charles had opted to stay away lest draw the attention away from the event of his ex-wife and mother of his children and deal with being blasted in the papers for any little thing they could think of.
From where she stood back stage, Adeline could hear Sir Elton John singing and couldn't help but mouth the words along with him; she had to admit that even though she had crossed paths with him that she was always a little starstruck when it came to the singer.
Cheering marked the end of his song and Adeline took a deep breath, she smoothed down her dress out of nerves as she spared a look towards her brothers knowing that in a matter of moments they would be on that stage themselves in front of thousands of people in the stadium.
"Thank you so much. Welcome to Wembley and a special welcome to the three people, whose idea it was to do this wonderful event. Ladies and Gentlemen, Their Royal Highnesses, Prince William, Prince Harry and Princess Adeline," Sir Elton John said to the cheering crowd and introducing the royals to a thunderous applause as they entered the stage.
William leading the way followed by his younger siblings, it was rather daunting to think about especially when faced with 63,000 people turning up at Wembley Stadium to watch the performances to commemorate the life of Diana on her birthday.
It was a stark contrast to where the siblings had spent the early morning, they'd gone together to their mother's grave so not to be disturbed in their moment of reflection.
The three siblings each shook Sir Elton's hand before walking across the stage to the left side platform below one of the large screens that was screening the show for the crowd further away from the stage.
William stood in the middle with Harry on his left and Adeline on his right, the cheering continued for the young royals as they stood together united in memory of their mother; who would be remember for the rest of their lives.
"Hello Wembley! It is great to see so many of you tonight, supporting this very special show. Of course when William, Adeline and I first had this idea we forgot that we'd end up standing here desperately trying to think of something funny to say, well we'll leave that to the funny people and Ricky Gervais," Harry started leaning towards the microphone as he spoke.
He had a cheeky smile on his face as he spoke and took in the thousands of people that had come together to celebrate the life of their mother, a woman that should have been with them now barring the tragic accident that had claimed her life in Paris.
"I'd just like to tell you why we're all here tonight. This evening is about all that our mother loved in life. Her music. Her dance. Her charities. And her family and friends," Adeline said knowing that she would have loved to be here tonight.
It was hard to wrap her head around the fact that it had been nearly ten years since her mother's death, she'd spent nearly as much time as she had with her mother as she had done without her.
"I'd also like to take this opportunity to hi to all the guys in A Squadron household cavalry that are serving out in Iraq at the moment. I wish I was there with you, I'm sorry I can't be but to you and everyone else in operation at the moment we'd all like to say stay safe," Harry jumped in with smile towards his sister, his words inciting a cheer from the crowds that had gathered in the stadium.
Adeline barely resisted rolling her eyes, even she knew what his hint was about; Harry was desperate to be deployed and the delays to ensure his safety had started to further grate on his nerves at this time.
"So for now, we'll see you later on. We just want you to have an awesome time and enjoy the line up here today. Speaking of which we have the greatest pleasure in introducing one of our mother's favourite bands. It's Duran, Duran," William introduced finishing up the first speech that the three siblings had planned for this evening.
The three of them quickly made their way off stage as Duran, Duran started playing and they slipped backstage so that they could head to their seats with the rest of their family and friends to enjoy the hard work that they'd put into this concert.
William wrapped an arm around Adeline and pulled her into a small hug while Harry walked on ahead of them, the two siblings sharing a small moment with Adeline hugged him back.
They'd both talked about how nervous they'd been about speaking in public like that, the three of them had resorted to using flashcards to remember their words and Adeline had done her best to memorise her lines so she didn't have to constantly look down at them.
Today was about celebrating the life of their mother, a woman that had meant a lot to more than just them and Adeline wanted nothing more than to make her mother proud; she knew that there would always be judgement for anything that was done in her mother's name.
It was hard to believe that she had been gone for nearly ten years, her passing was still the one that everyone talked about as coming as the greatest shock of all and how her death had been devastating to them.
***
"You did really well," Simon complimented quietly as he stopped next to Adeline, a small smile in her direction before he checked that Harry hadn't noticed that he had slipped away to speak with her.
The two of them might have been together for a year now but they were still intent on keeping their romance quiet for as long as possible; they were not looking forward to breaking the news to Harry that the two of them were dating.
Even after meeting Charles officially as Adeline's boyfriend, the two of them were determined to keep this as quiet as possible; the date already set for Adeline to meet Simon's mother later this month.
"Thank you," Adeline said sipping on her drink, she had been so nervous about speaking in public especially in front of crowds like this one with so many people here that admired her mother.
The last thing that she wanted to do was make a complete fool of herself, she'd worked hard to sound confident and Lucy had been a wonderful help in going over what she had to say so she didn't sound so robotic and wooden in her delivery.
Simon peered over to where Harry was talking with Chelsy, although he couldn't quite recall if they were on again or off again; he was sure that his friend was rather distracted with everything that was going on right now.
It was only when he was sure that Harry wasn't looking that he reached over to give Adeline's hand a reassuring squeeze; it was quick but he wanted her to know that he was here for her.
The event was an important one, especially to her and Simon really hoped that everything went without a hitch for her sake; he knew how much work she'd put into getting this right.
The eyes of the world were upon them and Simon had been thinking a lot about his talk with Charles; how he could better support Adeline in what she did.
Adeline flashed him a smile before stepping away from Simon, her eyes catching the look that had appeared on William's face at seeing her standing with Harry's best friend and talking with him rather closely.
The last thing she needed was him to go all big brother on her, she was pleased to see that he seemed to have patched things up with Catherine who was seated not far away from them in the crowd even if she hadn't confirmed that they were back together just yet after everything that had happened between them.
***
It was nearly five hours later that the three royals returned the stage after a final performance from Sir Elton John; the three of them touched by the beautiful tribute to their mother, one that they were sure that she would have loved.
"Wow. How can we possibly follow that. What a show. I hope you've all had an incredible evening, I know the three of us certainly have," Williams said with a smile, his feet were hurting from all the dancing that they'd been doing in their seats and he had no clue how Adeline was still wearing those heels.
He didn't envy his sister for walking in them from their seats back to the stage, some of them steps were steep but she had handled them well and was still wearing the heels that she had started the event in.
"Hopefully, thanks to all of you here tonight we will have raised enough money to make a difference to all the fantastic charities of our mother's," Adeline continued knowing that was the entire point of this evening, to continue the work that their mother had loved doing.
If even a penny helped the charities that had been close to her heart then it had been worth it, it had been such a lovely event and Adeline loved seeing the clips of her mother doing what she did best and helping those in need.
"We all hope and look forward to following the example of both our parents in working to help others," Harry said, there was a hint of something in his voice but it was easily dismissed at the emotion that he felt about being at such an event.
It had been a long day and it was growing late, the sun having long since set on the event and the five hour concert had done all that it had set out to do to mark the birthday of a remarkable woman.
"It just remains for Adeline, Harry and I to say a huge thank you to absolutely everyone involved in making tonight happen especially to the artists, the production teams and to Wembley," William thanked those who made it possible for them all to come together that day.
It had taken a lot of hard work and team effort to pull this all together and it wouldn't have happened without the help of those backstage who had offered their support in putting all this together with them.
"And of course, to all of you who have come here tonight and help us celebrate our mother's life on what would have been her forty-sixth birthday. For us, this has been the most perfect way of remembering her. And this is how she'd want to be remembered," Adeline said pushing forward, she smiled a little knowing that this really would how their mother would want to be remembered.
She wouldn't want people to focus on the bad things or how she had died, she'd want to be remembered for the work that she'd done in her life and as the mother of her three children.
It was never really going to be okay that she wasn't here but breaking down and crying about it wasn't going to bring her back.
Her death would not mark their lives, they were there own person and they could move forward knowing that whatever they did in their lives that she would have been proud of the three of them.
"Thank you and goodnight," William said snapping Adeline from her thoughts, she nodded her head before offering the crowd a wave as they began to exit the stage the way that they had come on to it.
As they walked off stage, Nelson Mandela's message appeared on the big stage speaking such wonderful and beautiful words about their mother that had touched so many people's hearts.
Tonight had been more about celebrating the love that the world had for their mother, they'd be able to have their moments going forward to celebrate the woman that she had been.
Adeline closed her eyes as she wrapped her two brothers up in a hug before Harry could escape, no matter what came their way they would always have each other no matter what life threw at them.
That was something that they could each of them could be proud of, there was nothing in this world that could tear them apart; they'd always have each other's backs.
"She would have loved tonight," Adeline whispered stepping back so that she could see her brothers' faces as the crowds cheered and started to disperse after a long evening of celebrating the woman that had been Diana, Princess of Wales.
The People's Princess.
Adeline had loved looking at the pictures of her mother as a little girl, it was hard to believe that same little girl had gone on to mean so much to so many different people.
No one would ever forget the impact that she'd had on the world and Adeline only hoped that she'd be able to do the same for people.
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If you'd like to watch the Concert for Diana the please do check it out on YouTube, someone has posted the concert in full for people to watch.