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 Almost 20 years on since she was killed when
her car crashed in a Paris tunnel, he still works surrounded by
pictures of the woman he calls "the princess of the people" in
his cafe, named Diana, his very personal attempt to keep her
memory alive.
"My promise to her is to put this place as a tribute for her,"
he said of his cafe, set up in 1989, near London's Kensington
Gardens, home to the palace where Diana used to live.
For him, celebrating her life is "business as usual" at the cafe
where visitors can eat Diana salads or Diana burgers and where
he said she used to stop by regularly.
"She is the princess of the people, always," he said, adding
that he does not believe she will ever be forgotten.
But many younger Britons said that while they can understand the
fascination with the princess, whose struggles to fit in to the
royal household played out in the full glare of the media, they
don't feel it themselves.
"I think she maybe meant more to my mother," said Stephen Butler
in the west London area Diana used to live. "When she died I
remember my mother shaking me awake and being quite devastated
about it."
Student Shermine Grigorius was three-years-old when Diana died
but after being told stories about the Princess of Wales by her
mother, sees her as a "symbol of kindness".
While the royals have always been dutifully charitable, Diana
was known for going beyond her in-laws, or even any celebrity at
the time, in her philanthropy.
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 Whether in charity work or in royal life, she earned a
reputation for being a rebel who defied convention: from
campaigning for a worldwide ban on landmines despite opposition
from the British government to flouting royal protocol to speak
candidly about her experiences with bulimia and infidelity.
"She bought a different side to the whole
monarchy," said Anika Wijuria, a 30-year-old project manager. "They
were quite stiff and she was quite liberal."
At the Da Mario restaurant, Marco Molino remembers another side of
Diana, describing a "down to earth" woman who liked to eat Italian
dishes with her sons, Princes William and Harry, or friends.
"Her personality was very normal, very down to earth, very
friendly," he said near an oil painting of Diana on the wall. "I
think that's what she really wanted - a bit of normality ... Here
was one of the places where she could achieve that."
Ronald van Bronkhorst, who has lived above Da Mario since the 70s,
also said she never made flashy entrances.
"Her legacy will never leave ... You think about her all the time,
especially in the area we live in."
(Reporting by Emma Rumney; Editing by Alison Williams)
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