Although the opening took place earlier this year, the news was only released this week by the institution
A capsule of time placed by, Princess of Wales, in 1991 opened more than three decades later. The object was buried at the entrance of the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, and was removed to give way to the construction of a new child cancer center. Although the opening took place earlier this year, the news was only released this week by the institution. Diana assumed the presidency of the Children’s Hospital in 1989 and made frequent visits to the scene. Two years later, in March 1991, he participated in a ceremony that marked the release of the basis of one of the buildings of the complex and, at the time, sealed the time capsule.
According to the hospital, the ceremony was inspired by another event, held in 1872, when the then Princess of Wales, Alexandra, launched the foundations of a hospital building and also deposited a time capsule – never found. The container placed by Diana kept objects that reflected the time: a pocket television, a solar calculator, British coins, tree seeds in a bottle, a snowflake hologram, a sheet of recycled paper, a European passport and a Kylie Minogue singer.
The choice of items was the result of a national contest, which invited children to suggest representative elements of the 1990s. Two young people won the competition, judged by BBC host Peter Duncan, actress Bonnie Langford and then director of the Natural History Museum, Dr. Neil Chalmers. According to Jason Dawson, executive director of space and responsible for the project of the new cancer center, the opening of the capsule was marked by emotion: “It was really exciting, almost how to connect with memories of things that were planted by a generation that is gone.”
Although the humidity had damaged part of the content, the hospital team closely followed the moment. “It was very good to be part of this event,” said Rochana Redkar, clinical researcher at the Pediatric Oncological Hematology Unit and bone marrow transplantation, noting that the capsule was buried in the year of her birth. Already Janet Holmes, expert in health toys that worked at the hospital in 1991, was thrilled with one of the items found: “Watching the pocket TV inside brought me so many memories. I had bought one for my husband at that time. They were very expensive!”.
*With information from Estadão Content
