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The capsule was opened early because of a construction project. It revealed a Kylie Minogue CD, a pocket television and other ephemera from its time.
Aug. 28, 2025, 3:11 p.m. ET
The time capsule was sealed away with great pomp, and Princess Diana herself was in attendance.
It was to remain in its tomb for hundreds of years, to be marveled at one day by the humans of the future, or perhaps their new A.I. overlords.
Instead it has been dug up and opened after just 34 years.
The lead-lined wooden box, encased in the wall at the front entrance of Great Ormond Street Hospital in the Bloomsbury neighborhood of London in 1991, had its expected timeline shortened drastically after the hospital decided to build a new children’s cancer center.
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So it was duly removed this year and opened to reveal a curious mix of items from the early 1990s chosen by two children who had won a national competition.
The items, which the hospital disclosed this week, included the expected: a copy of The London Times newspaper and a photograph of Princess Diana.
The mundane: a passport, coins, tree seeds.
