DIANA'S MOTHER: MY PAIN AT LOSING TWO CHILDREN

PRINCESS DIANA'S mother told of her pain at losing two children when she addressed a memorial service in London.

Frances Shand Kydd recalled the loss of her new-born son, John, and Diana, 37 years apart, at St George's Cathedral, Southwark.

Describing her lowest moments since the Paris crash which killed Diana, she said it was akin to "having repetitive major emotional surgery without anaesthetic". Yet Mrs Shand Kydd was accused by Harrods owner Mohamed Fayed, whose son Dodi also died in the accident, of "not giving a damn" about Diana. The Princess's mother reiterated her condemnation of the commercial exploitation of her daughter. She also attacked people like Mr Fayed for inventing "utterly painful theories on her death, funeral and burial". The children's memorial mass last night brought together memories of Diana's death and the Dunblane killings in 1996. Mrs Shand Kydd, 62, wore a silver snowdrop brooch intended as a gift for Diana from Dun-blane residents. To symbolise their sorrow at Diana's death, the brooch was instead given to Mrs Shand Kydd who told the congregation she "wore it with pride". The first reading at the mass, attended by a congregation of 300, was given by another grieving mother, Diana Lamplugh. Her daughter Suzy was officially declared dead after disappearing in 1986. Mrs Lam-plugh set up The Suzy Lamplugh Trust and has campaigned tirelessly on personal safety issues. Mrs Shand Kydd, who lives on the island of Seil off the west coast of Scotland, said: "We do not expect to bury our children. There is a time for each of us to die but not an age. The death of a child is the reality of a parent's worst nightmare. My son John lived for 11 hours. He was born well-nourished but he had a fatal flaw in his lungs. When he died I felt he was a gift from God and that what he has given he can take away. I was to experience this again 37 years later when Diana died." After John's death Mrs Shand Kydd suffered the agony of losing the custody battle for Diana and her other three children to her first husband, Viscount Althorp, who became the eighth Earl Spencer. They married in 1954 when she was 18 and separated 13 years later. Mrs Shand Kydd conceded underestimating the extent of the world's grief for Diana and admitted her hopes that she might "gently adjust" after the "hype" died down were dashed. She said: "It was not to be. The months after seemed to be devoid of sensitivity in the full swing of commercial activity." Mrs Shand Kydd did not name Mr Fayed but attacked those who "abandoned trust and told and sold their stories". After a bitter separation from Earl Spencer, Mrs Shand Kydd married wallpaper tycoon Peter Shand Kydd. They divorced in 1988 but remain close friends. In 1995 she converted to Catholicism after attending mass on Oban. -

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