Ottawa residents mark 25th anniversary of Princess Diana's death

On the 25th anniversary of her death, Dr. Jim Robblee doesn't have to look far to remember the special encounter he had with Diana, Princess of Wales, decades ago.

"I have the picture on the wall there to remind me of it periodically," he said.

Robblee is an anesthesiologist at the Ottawa Heart Institute and was there when Diana, Princess of Wales, visited in 1991.

"We were one of the leading institutions in the world at that point in artificial heart and that was a bit of a famous area from our perspective," he said. "In her characteristic fashion she didn't talk very much to the doctors and nurses other than saying hello but she spent all her time with the patients."

It was on this day in 1997 when Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Fayed were killed when their vehicle crashed in a Paris tunnel after being chased by paparazzi.

"The flowers in London were amazing," said Susan Macartney. "I think most people watched her funeral on television and realized how much she touched everybody's hearts."

Known as the people's princess, Diana brought international attention to the dangers of landmines and comforted those with AIDS.

"It was really important that she reached out and sat beside people who had aids and took away some of the stigma of it and she did a lot of great work in the world," said Alison Patenaude-Meek, a nurse visiting Ottawa.

Diana made several trips to Ottawa in the 80s and early 90s. Those fortunate enough to have met her, are still touched to this day.

"She was just a lovely person in a position who used all her grace and her beauty and her energy and so on to do good," said Robblee. "You don't see that very often."