Monday 4 July 2022 would have been Kate’s 61^st Birthday.

And Wednesday 13 July 2022 will be the fifth anniversary of her untimely death from breast cancer, at the Princess Alice Hospice, Esher, in the summer of 2017.

As the years pass by, increasingly I prefer to commemorate and celebrate her birthday, allowing her death day to pass more quietly.

And I want her birthday to be a happy occasion, filled with the fun and laughter that Kate herself so often brought to proceedings.

I have to be prepared for the certainty that, as more time passes, there will be fewer people who still keep Kate’s memory alive. It is human nature to forget the dead, apart from those closest to us; otherwise we would all become overburdened with sorrow.

And, since this year’s anniversary falls on a Monday, I don’t expect many of those who still remember Kate will be able or willing to spend part of the day with us. No doubt some would anyway prefer to pay their respects privately.

But, if you are at a loose end and within easy travelling distance of South West London, I plan to follow the Tamsin Trail anti-clockwise around Richmond Park, starting and finishing at the Kingston Gate.

And we’ll interrupt proceedings for a leisurely picnic which, weather permitting, will take place beneath ‘Kate’s Tree’. Those of a more sedentary disposition may prefer to come only for the picnic!

Further details will follow to those requesting them.

TD

June 2022