Council forced to defend 'hideous' floral tribute to Princess Diana after torrent of criticism

'Luckily she had a sense of humour,' writes one Facebook user

The well dressing tribute to Princess Diana (Chesterfield Borough Council)

A council's "hideous" tribute to Princess Diana has been mocked as "an insult" to the late royal.

Chesterfield City Council was forced onto the defensive after commenters on its Facebook page labelled the tribute, created painstakingly from flower petals by 14 volunteers, a "disgrace".

The traditional well dressing was among several created to mark 20 years since Diana's death.

One commenter said: "I saw it and thought what an insult to Dianna.. luckily she had a sense of humour and would probably be laughing if she could see it".

Another added: "That is hideous."

But other comments praised the volunteers' effort. One user wrote: "I'm not from Chesterfield - all credit to those who have taken the time and trouble to create this traditional piece of well dressing.

"While it might not be to everyone's taste, I don't see it is an insult to Princess Diana, and I don't think it reflects badly on Chesterfield. It's easy to sit and be sarcastic, much harder to actually do something. All good wishes to the creators, and Chesterfield folk."

A Chesterfield Council spokesman told the Derbyshire Times: "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 visit the market and local shops then that can only be good for Chesterfield."