Princess Diana was an inspiration to many people,
and musician Elton John was no exception. Elton and Diana were friends for years,
though their friendship had its share of highs and lows. After Diana's tragic death in 1997,
Elton often expressed how he felt about the princess and her kindness.
Elton John first came across Princess Diana at a royal event in 1981.
It was Prince Andrew's 21st birthday bash, and John was asked to come to the event and
sing for the guests. He obliged and even showed up early to the party.
John recollected,
"When I arrived, there was no one there but the dance band and Princess Diana.
We danced the Charleston alone on the floor for 20 minutes."
The event got more animated as Princess Anne and the queen eventually joined in, making the party
more memorable than John could have imagined. Meeting Diana made him feel very connected to her.
He remarked,
"She was blessed with an incredible social ease,
an ability to talk to anybody, to make herself seem ordinary."
Their meeting at the party was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Elton John was closely associated with the royals even before he got to know Princess Diana. John
first met the royal family back in the 1970s, when he was called to Kensington Palace for a meal.
His host was Princess Margaret, who loved listening to music and admired musicians.
The dinner was an awkward affair, though. The princess and her husband,
Lord Snowdon, ended up quarreling while eating, something that was unexpected.
John recalled,
"[Lord Snowdown] stormed in midway through the meal and literally snarled
'Where's my f-----g dinner?' at her. They had a huge row, and she fled the room in tears."
Over the years, John became a regular guest at royal events. It helped that he was gaining
popularity as a musician and becoming a much-loved celebrity. John interacted with
several members of the royal family, such as Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II.
In fact, Philip once even joked to John that he
needed to do something about his yellow Aston Martin. He told John,
"[The car] makes you look like a bloody fool. Get rid of it."
For Elton John, his growing friendship with Princess Diana meant that he was frequently
around her, and they often attended parties and social events together. Being in close proximity
with Diana made it easy for the singer to notice just how popular she really was.
According to John, men couldn't help but be charmed by the princess whenever they met her.
Even Hollywood stars weren't immune. In fact,
John even had a term for this phenomenon, calling it the "Diana Effect" in his autobiography "Me".
“That sort of crazy laugh, where there was just pure happiness shown on her face.”
He had a particularly interesting anecdote to share from one of their events. At a dinner party
that included Princess Diana and Hollywood stars Richard Gere and Sylvester Stallone,
John found that the two actors were so attracted to Diana that they almost
ended up fighting each other for her attention.
Stallone left, and John recalls him saying,
"I never would have come if I'd known Prince f----n' Charming was gonna be
here. If I'd wanted her, I would've taken her!"
John noted in his autobiography that the princess was so endearing that
she could even make Hollywood stars behave like teenagers.
Elton John got along well enough with Princess Diana to meet and interact with her kids,
and he was particularly fond of Prince Harry. They first met in the 1990s at Kensington Palace.
It was a special lunch that was hosted by Princess Diana for Elton John
and acclaimed fashion designer Gianni Versace.
John revealed that Prince Harry was very shy at first but was sweet throughout their interaction,
and the singer liked him immediately. He said,
"What a joy it has been to see that young boy grow to inherit his mother's warmth,
sense of humor, and courage to stand up and champion the causes he truly believes in."
Elton John has remained on good terms with Prince Harry through the years
and even sang at his wedding in 2018.
In the 1990s, Elton John and Princess Diana's friendship
went into a rough phase when they couldn't see eye to eye on a book. Diana was supposed to
write the introduction to a photography book that was meant to help the AIDS Foundation,
but she decided to withdraw from the project. John later remarked,
"I think Buckingham Palace didn't like the idea of a member of the royal family having
anything to do with a book that featured shots of naked guys with towels draped around them."
The book was a collaborative effort between Elton John and Gianni Versace. The problem was
that the book included pictures of the royal family, as well as shots of nude male models.
Princess Diana wasn't pleased about this and didn't want to upset the queen,
which is why she decided to distance herself from the project. This was troubling for John,
who hadn't expected his friend to back out.
Despite the hiccups, the book did get released, and its proceeds were donated to John's AIDS
foundation. However, this incident led to Princess Diana and Elton John not speaking to each other.
When they ended up having a falling-out over the photography book, Elton John did try to
make an effort to reach out to Princess Diana and figure out what had happened,
writing to her and seeking an explanation.
However, he was confused and upset about her actions. John said of the incident,
"I wrote back to her, calling her out, telling her how much money she had cost the AIDS Foundation,
reminding her that she had seen the book.”
Diana did get back to him with a letter, but she was quite formal
and didn't speak to him the way she used to. John got even more agitated after receiving her reply,
and they ended up not communicating for a time. John later said,
"It's one of those things that friends sometimes do. You know,
they're too proud to pick up the phone."
Their differences, thankfully, didn't last.
Even though Elton John and Princess Diana weren't on speaking terms, the singer couldn't help but
feel concerned. He sensed that something was off but wasn't sure. John recalled,
"She seemed to be losing touch with all sorts of really close friends, who would be honest
with her, and surrounding herself instead with people who told her what she wanted to hear."
John said that the ones who could help were pushed away toward the end of Diana's life,
and she relied on, quote, "the wrong people" for comfort. John commented,
"I always thought the people that really felt for her and really were true to her,
she just was a bit airy fairy towards the end."
Elton John and Princess Diana crossed paths once more when tragedy struck in July 1997.
They lost their close friend, Gianni Versace, who was murdered outside his home.
The event brought Diana and John together again.
They met at the funeral and bonded over their shared loss,
and Princess Diana was a great source of strength for John at that point. He said,
"She kept her cool for me [...] at Gianni's funeral and she held her composure. [...] When
I started crying and she put her arms around me and she was, that's exactly what she was like."
John called Diana, quote, "a caring and very calming person."
Diana had reached out to John as soon as she found out about Versace,
to check on her friend and his mental health. John never forgot that gesture. He said,
"I loved her because she did so much for AIDS and she was a great friend to me.
We had our fallings out, but we reconciled in the end."
That summer was unforgettable for Elton John,
who lost Versace and Diana in the space of only weeks. The events
felt surreal to the musician, who couldn't quite come to terms with what was happening.
Elton John and Princess Diana didn't get much time together after their reunion. Sadly,
in August 1997, tragedy struck again when Princess Diana died in a car crash in Paris.The
princess was being pursued by paparazzi when the devastating accident occurred.
Elton John was asked to perform at his friend's funeral. He said back then,
"I was invited to the funeral anyway,
and now I've been asked to sing [...] which is quite a daunting thing but I want to."
Singing at the funeral was incredibly tough for John. In fact,
he was so scared of messing up the lyrics of the song "Candle in the Wind"
that he used a teleprompter that was placed close to his piano.
His performance was seen by millions of fans who were mourning Princess Diana's
death in different parts of the world. He called performing at the event a "surreal" experience,
and was trying to remain strong and stoic while singing in front of so many people.
Approximately 2,000 people were present at the funeral. John told himself,
"Don't break down and just do it to the best you can possibly
do it without showing any emotion whatsoever."
Losing Princess Diana was devastating for Elton John,
who didn't know how to cope. According to The Telegraph, the musician found out
about his friend's death after someone sent him a fax with their condolences.
John was especially confused about the kind of attention his new version
of "Candle in the wind" received from the public. The singer recreated the
song for Diana as a tribute. The ballad became extremely popular among listeners,
and it's estimated that at least 33 million copies were sold globally.
However, John was not okay with the kind of attention
the song received after Diana's death. He said,
"There was part of me that couldn't understand why anyone would want to listen to it.
Under what circumstances would you play it? I never did."
He was uneasy about how long the song remained on top of the charts, adding,
"[I]t almost felt like wallowing in her death, as if the mourning for her had got[ten] out of hand."
As far as John was concerned, the hype around the song wasn't a good thing. He distanced himself
from it, not talking about the funeral or his performance in any of his television interviews.
“So there’s, you know, a lot of grief that still needs to be….to be let out.”
Also, the singer firmly believed that Diana wouldn't have liked the
kind of attention the song received. He made it a point to never include
it in his greatest hits albums as a mark of respect to Princess Diana.
Even after Princess Diana's death, Elton John didn't forget the bond that they shared.
He was around for her sons, Harry and William, and tried to lend his support whenever he could.
When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were called out for using a private plane
to visit him in France in 2019, John was livid and made his views clear on Twitter.
He wrote that he was quite hurt by the explosive media accounts on the couple's visit, stating,
"Prince Harry's Mother, Diana Princess Of Wales was one of my dearest friends.
I feel a profound sense of obligation to protect Harry and his family from
the unnecessary press intrusion that contributed to Diana's untimely death."
He further wrote that the private plane that Harry and Meghan used was carbon-neutral
and that it was something that John had arranged on his own. He wrote,
"To support Prince Harry's commitment to the environment, we ensured their flight was carbon
neutral, by making the appropriate contribution to Carbon Footprint."
John said that he decided to arrange the plane to ensure that the couple
was adequately protected during their travels.
Also, he requested the media to leave Harry and Meghan alone and respect their privacy.
For Elton John, it has always been important to remember Princess Diana in different ways.
He performed at a music concert for Diana with William and Harry by his side in 2007.
Harry said at the concert,
"This evening is about all that my mother loved: her music,
her charities, her dance, and all her friends."
John also made sure to show up for Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding celebrations in 2011,
and said that he believed that Diana would have been over the moon to see
Prince William and Kate together. He also said that he felt that they were lovely as a couple.
In 2017, John remembered Diana again,
speaking about her on the 20th anniversary of her death. He told the BBC that Diana had
a warmth and positivity that could be very comforting for others around her,
and that this quality would make them feel like things would eventually work out.
He also wrote a touching tribute on one of his social media accounts:
"20 years ago today, the world lost an angel."
John let go of other work commitments to attend Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding in 2018.
He even performed "Your Song" for the royal family at the lunch reception,
as confirmed by a statement from Kensington Palace, which read,
"Sir Elton performed for the newly married couple in recognition of the
close connection he has with Prince Harry and his family."
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