Elton John, friend of the princess who sang at her funeral, opened with Your Song in front of giant photographs of Diana taken by Mario Testino that were beamed on to the stage backdrop, and closed proceedings more than six hours later.

In between came Duran Duran, Bryan Ferry, The Feeling, Fergie, Kanye West, Sean "Diddy" Combs with I'll Be Missing You, Orson, Lily Allen, crowd pleasers Take That, Pharrell Williams and Diana favourite The English National Ballet.

Sunday would have been Diana's 46th birthday.

Her death in a car crash in Paris in 1997 provoked an unprecedented outpouring of grief from the normally reserved British, reflecting their love of the royal dubbed the "queen of hearts" who was one of the world's most photographed women.

The princes, who danced and joined a Mexican wave during the concert, organised the event to mark the 10th anniversary of their mother's death and celebrate her charity work, which they felt had been forgotten amid negative press.

"For us this has been the most perfect way of remembering her and this is how she would want to be remembered," William, 25, said at the end of the gig, to loud applause.

The show, interspersed with video clips from charities Diana supported and footage of her as a child, was broadcast to around 140 countries with a potential audience of 500 million people.