London ? Five years after Princess Diana’s death prompted an astonishing public outpouring of grief, Britain remembered her Saturday in far more subdued fashion, marking a sad anniversary with small, personal gestures and private recollections.

Hundreds of bouquets piled up outside Kensington Palace, Diana’s former home, far fewer than the thousands that formed an ocean of floral tributes when the palace’s ornate iron gates were a focal point for national mourning in 1997.

A U.S. flag with a simple message hangs alongside flowers left at the gate of Kensington Palace in London. Saturday marked the fifth anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

And at any time Saturday there were never more than about a hundred well-wishers in front of the palace, some of them people out for a stroll when they happened upon the display.

Diana’s sons, Princes William, 20, and Harry, 17, spent a weekend out of the public eye with their father, Prince Charles, and grandparents, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, at the family’s estate at Balmoral.

“It is a private time,” said a spokeswoman for the family.

As in previous years, no official commemoration of the death was arranged.

Diana’s brother Earl Spencer said he would spend Saturday at home with family and friends.

A trickle of visitors left flowers outside Althorp, the family home where Diana is buried on an island in the middle of a small lake. The house, 70 miles northwest of London, was closed to the public on Saturday.

Those outside said they still believed the princess embodied the best of Britain.

“Princess Diana was something to look up to, someone incredibly special, good and kind to everyone no matter who they were,” said Freda Thatcher, 71. “They say time heals, but she is always there in the mind.”