Britain’s triple world Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton paid tribute to Princess Diana on Friday by penning a poem in her honour a day after the 20th anniversary of her death.
Hamilton posted the poem, which he called “England’s Rose”, on his Instagram account.
The sparsely punctuated poem starts: “The day we lost our Nations Rose, Tears we cried like rivers flowed, The earth stood still, As we laid her to rest.”
The poem bears a passing resemblance to Elton John’s song “Candle in the Wind”, which he performed at Diana’s funeral in Westminster Abbey in 1997.
Hamilton, 32, illustrated the tribute with several photographs of the princess alongside the Van Morrison song “Into the Mystic”.
Diana was killed in a car crash in a Paris road tunnel on August 31, 1997.
In a separate tribute on Twitter, Hamilton acknowledged the anniversary with a quote often attributed to the Princess. “I don’t go by the rule book,” he wrote. “I lead from the heart, not the head.”
Hamilton will hope to close the gap on world championship leader Sebastian Vettel in Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza.