Some Mark Anniversary at Scene of Princess Diana's Death in Paris

PARIS – There were a few more flowers, a few more emotional visitors, but no official commemoration Friday over the bustling Paris roadway tunnel where Princess Diana died a decade ago.

Many adorers of the "People's Princess" visited the gold-colored statue of a golden flame over the Alma roadway tunnel, which has become a makeshift shrine to Diana after her death nearby on Aug. 31, 1997.

Theories still abound among fans: Some suspect she was targeted, others speculate about a white car once thought to have had a role in the crash. One suggested Diana is not really gone.

"You know, she's not dead," said anthropologist Guy Lesoeurs, holding a book he wrote titled "Diana du Pont de l'Alma: Les Pelerins de la Flamme" (Diana of the Alma Bridge: Pilgrims of the Flame).

"She has disappeared, but somewhere she's continuing her work," Lesoeurs said. "The flame saves Diana from oblivion, and projects (her soul) -- somewhere else ... that's what the real pilgrims say."

France has not sponsored official ceremonies to mark the anniversaries of the deaths of the princess, her boyfriend Dodi Fayed and their chauffeur, Henri Paul, after a high-speed crash in the tunnel.

Sara Gill, a British Embassy spokeswoman, said no one has requested any commemorations in France, and that Diana's family had preferred a "discreet, traditional ceremony" in Britain.

Her two sons, William and Harry, were said to have organized Friday's memorial service at the Guards' Chapel near Buckingham Palace in London, where Harry delivered a eulogy.

French media coverage about Diana has faded. Weekly Paris Match, which has featured her photo on 56 covers since 1981, showed a popular French TV anchor on its front this week despite the anniversary.

Some Diana lovers have started a grassroots campaign to erect an official memorial to her in Paris. The torch statue, a replica of the Statue of Liberty's flame, was donated in 1987 by the International Herald Tribune newspaper as a symbol of French-American friendship.

Every day, passers-by, tourists and the curious drop by -- though it is tough to estimate how many. Her faithful turned out by the dozens on Friday.

"I came to pray for her," said artist Francine Reulier, 56, who knelt quietly for several minutes at the base of the statue, clutching a coffee-table book on the late former princess.

"Many of us in France feel a bit guilty for not having protected her," she said, remembering how she awoke to the news of Diana's death on her alarm-clock radio a decade ago. "I still get chills, I still cry about it -- the raw horror of it all."