
Imagine this: more than three decades ago, Princess Diana, together with her children, buried a little piece of the 90s — a true time capsule. Back in 1991, during the cornerstone ceremony for a new building at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, instead of the usual ribbon-cutting or commemorative plaque, they decided to leave a message for the future.
Two schoolchildren — winners of the Blue Peter contest — were invited to take part. They were the ones who selected the items that, in their opinion, best represented the era. Diana helped them pack everything into a lead-lined wooden box. The capsule was meant to remain underground for hundreds of years. But plans changed when it was recently unearthed to clear space for a new children’s oncology center.
And now the most exciting part — what was inside? They found:
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Kylie Minogue’s Rhythm of Love CD (because what’s the 90s without a pop icon!),
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a sheet of recycled paper and a passport,
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a collection of British coins,
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a container with five tree seeds,
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and a hologram of a snowflake (a true “wow” tech-effect of the time).
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Interestingly, the story has another twist. In 1872, another Princess of Wales — Alexandra — also created a time capsule for the same hospital. It supposedly contained a photograph of Queen Victoria. But that capsule has never been found.