Princes tour Wembley concert arena

Prince William and Harry toured a cold and rain-lashed Wembley Stadium today as they inspected the final preparations for tomorrow’s Concert for Diana.

The royal brothers were taken on a walkabout around the £800m (€1.2bn) arena and given an insight into the work of backroom production staff who are working hard to put the finishing touches to the event.

The princes are putting on the celebration to commemorate their mother’s life 10 years after she died in a car crash.

Among the stars taking to the stage tomorrow, which would have been the princess’s 46th birthday, are Lily Allen, Rod Stewart, Natasha Bedingfield, James Morrison and Elton John.

First stop for William and Harry was the sound mixing desk in the middle of the pitch at Wembley Stadium, north west London.

The brothers were told by sound designer Derek Zieba how it was his job to make sure the performing artists sound good and explained that when the stadium was full the musicology would be even better.

The royal brothers were then taken through a large trailer which will be the nerve centre for broadcasters and where all the footage screened live by the BBC tomorrow will be processed.

William and Harry squeezed into the tight space and were given another brief description of the art of putting together footage from a concert by director Janet Fraser Crook.

She joked with the princes and said: “We have a camera on the royal box, but only the dancing will be shown.”

The director asked William: “Would you like to see how the top of the show works?”

The prince replied: “No, keep it a surprise.”

She then took them through a dummy run of how she will put the footage of the show together as she barked out orders to cameramen in various locations around the stadium and asked one of her team, who was on stage, to pretend to be a singer, which made the royal brothers laugh.

William and Harry stared at the banks of screens in front of them and watched as the main console flashed up different angles of the arena and the stage.

Later, the princes will be joined by more than 100 youngsters for a special lunch at Wembley Stadium.