A town’s floral tribute to Princess Diana has become a laughing stock on social media after people said the “horrific” design looked more like Worzel Gummidge than the late Princess of Wales.
The memorial, which is on display on the water pump outside Chesterfield’s Market Hall, was created as part of the town’s well dressing celebrations, an annual custom in Derbyshire which involves making pictures using only natural materials such as flowers, leaves and egg shells.
The design was chosen to mark the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death.
Chesterfield Borough Council posted photographs of the artwork on its Facebook page, where they attracted plenty of less than complimentary comments.
Richard Wilkins compared the tribute to the infamously ugly TV scarecrow character Worzel Gummidge, posting on Facebook: “Worzel gummidge RIP forever in our hearts.”
Gayla Tuckley wrote on Facebook that she thought it was an “insult” to Diana.
She added: “Luckily she had a sense of humour and would probably be laughing if she could see it or cared. But still it needs taking down it’s not nice at all.”
Louise Foyster said the “horrific” tribute was bound to go viral, adding: “Putting Chesterfield on the map!”
Roger Fearn also commented: “Our shops our closing, our Market stalls are empty, we have homeless people in our bus station, our football team is crap and now this.”
Some were a bit more sympathetic to the amount of effort that must have gone into producing the tribute.
Emma-Leigh Rose posted: “Maybe it’s not an exact likeness guys but come on! People have put a lot of effort into this when they didn’t need to! Done something nice for Chesterfield and for Diana”, while JF Andrew said: “I’m sure a lot of time went into this....but that is absolutely horrific!!”
Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins sent an apparently uncertain tweet in response to a resident who said they were “screaming” at the photos.
A spokesman for Chesterfield Borough Council said: “The well dressing is produced by 14 volunteers using the ancient Derbyshire art of well dressing, which involves creating designs from flower petals and other natural materials.
“All art is meant to be a talking point and that certainly seems to be the case with this year’s design.
“The well dressing is designed to attract visitors to the area and if the publicity encourages more people to come and experience our historic market town and local shops then that can only be good for Chesterfield.”