Princess Diana was beloved by people all over the world, and many were devastated her 1997 death in a Paris car crash was announced. The princess, who was hailed for her charitable work in Africa and for helping fight the stigma against those battling HIV/AIDS, was full of love for those she helped and her family - as well as a rare few celebrity friends.
While global media attention was fixated on her, she found moments of solace in late night phone calls with the likes of Sir Elton John and George Michael as others like Princess Grace of Monaco supported her from the sidelines.
Many have talked about her impact on their lives and her passing - with some even performing at her funeral - as others have recalled top secret outings to gay bars and Golden Girls marathons.
For more on the men and women who supported Princess Diana through it all, here’s a roundup of her inner circle.
Sir Elton John
As with any close friendship, Princess Diana and Elton John had their ups and downs - before the pair reconciled just over a month before her death in 1997. The pair first met at Prince Andrew’s birthday party in 1981, where John was performing, and he recounted how they danced alone to the Charleston for nearly half an hour together.
Speaking to his biographer Philip Norman, he shared via the Vancouver Sun, “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.”
From there, they became steadfast friends and he later grew closer to her sons - commenting to Time Magazine that Prince Harry had grown to “inherit his mother’s warmth, sense of humour and courage to stand up and champion the causes he truly believes in.” They sadly fell out over the publication of a book called Rock and Royalty that John worked on alongside Gianni Versace, which Princess Diana was supposed to write a foreword to.
“She was a very dear friend for years, and then, completely unexpectedly, we fell out,” he said in the Daily Mail, later saying that she “got cold feet” as he believed Buckingham Palace didn’t approve of her involvement with a “book that featured shots of naked guys with towels draped around them.”
As their relationship cooled, John said that eventually she reached out after their friend Versace was murdered and called him to reconcile. He recalled, “She said: 'I'm so sorry. It was a silly falling-out. Let's be friends.'”
They later attended Versace’s funeral together, where she was seen comforting a distraught John as they mourned him. Sadly, John would never see his friend again as Princess Diana died in 1997. He performed a rewritten version of his song Candle in the Wind, which was originally penned in tribute to Marilyn Monroe, for her with new lyrics under Goodbye England’s Rose - however vowed that he would never perform it again without her sons’ permission.
Since Princess Diana’s death, he’s remained close to Prince William and Prince Harry and attended both of their weddings. He also has provided respite for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle from media attention, as he loaned them his private jet to visit him in France, which they were later criticised for.
He defended them, saying, “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. After a hectic year continuing their hard work and dedication to charity, David and I wanted the young family to have a private holiday inside the safety and tranquillity of our home.”
Freddie Mercury
It was revealed that Princess Diana and Queen frontman Freddie Mercury used to get up to all kinds of mischief together. Cleo Rocos wrote in her biography that Mercury had once smuggled the royal into a gay bar. The pair, who used to also watch reruns of Golden Girls and redub the episodes, conspired to disguise Princess Diana as a man to get her into the Royal Vauxhall Tavern.
Rocos recalled how the transformation was a success, as she said the group decided she would pass for a “rather eccentrically dressed gay male model.” With Mercury and Rocos’ help, Princess Diana eventually made it into the bar and was able to order a white wine and some beer - going completely undetected. They left after twenty minutes before anybody realised.
Liza Minnelli
Minnelli and Princess Diana were known to be close and the singer once said, “I was lucky enough to count Princess Di as a friend.”
She and Princess Diana first met backstage at one of Minnelli’s concerts, after which they began to run into each other more frequently at events. She said, “We'd bump into each other at premieres or events where she'd be the guest of honour. We'd fall into conversation then we'd meet for tea.”
“My instinct was to protect her. We talked about everything under the sun. She loved music,” Minnelli continued.
Although Elton John may have extended his friendship with Princess Diana to her sons, Liza Minnelli dispelled rumours that she was helping settle Prince Harry and Meghan into Los Angeles.
Saying that she wished the pair “well”, she clarified on Facebook that she had “never met Prince Harry and Meghan."
Gianni Versace
Princess Diana and Gianni Versace were close friends and first connected when she wore an Atelier Versace gown on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar. Speaking to Vanity Fair, Versace reflected on how Princess Diana had changed since leaving the Royal Family behind and had found “a kind of serenity.”
He told VF, “I had a fitting with her last week for new suits and clothing for spring, and she is so serene. It is a moment in her life, I think, when she’s found herself—the way she wants to live.”
Though the pair hit a rough spot over the publication of his and Sir Elton John’s book Rock and Royalty, after Versace was murdered by serial killer Andrew Cunanan in 1997, she was present for his funeral.
Photos of the service show Princess Diana supporting her friend John as he was overcome with emotion and she later released a statement saying, “I am devastated by the loss of a great and talented man.”
Princess Diana died just six weeks after Versace’s passing.
Princess Grace of Monaco
As outsiders who married into a royal family, Princess Diana and Grace Kelly related to each other. Kelly is said to have even shared advice with the young princess over the years. Speaking to Lady, Kelly’s biographer revealed that they first met through Prince Charles at a concert and instantly became friends.
At the event, Princess Diana reportedly was visibly uncomfortable. Hello Goodbye Hello author Craig Brown wrote Princess Diana was worried she was inappropriately dressed and Kelly is said to have noticed. She pulled Princess Diana for a quick pep talk in the bathroom, during which she told the princess, “Don’t worry, dear—it’ll only get worse.”
As Princess Diana continued to struggle with the press, Robinson recalled that the Monegasque princess supported her through it and “saw a bit of herself in Diana.” He said, “Grace pulled her aside and told her to bear with it, to slow down, to not worry about it. She explained it wouldn’t subside completely but that she would learn to deal with it.”
“She was very motherly with Diana,” he continued.
When Princess Grace passed away, Princess Diana later revealed in Diana: Her True Story - In Her Own Words that she had fought to go to Kelly’s funeral. After Prince Charles told her she didn’t need to go, Princess Diana recalled that she told him, “Well, I think it’s important, because she was an outsider who married into a big family, and I’ve done the same, so it would feel right.”
After Prince Charles refused to budge on the subject, Princess Diana revealed she went over his head and pleaded her case to the Queen. According to Princess Diana, the Queen told her, “I don’t see why not. If you want to do this, you can.”
Once Princess Diana left for the funeral and returned, she recalled that everyone was “all over me like a bad rash” praising her for going. “And I thought: ‘Well, interesting.’”
George Michael
Michael and Princess Diana were incredibly close and it was revealed in the singer’s biography that the pair frequently spent time together and spoke on the phone. Michael hinted via the Daily Mail that he knew she was “very attracted to me” at one point - despite Michael revealing later on in life that he was gay - and added that they “clicked in [a] way that was a little bit intangible, and it probably had more to do with our upbringing than anything else.”
When Princess Diana passed away, he performed the song 'You Have Been Loved' at her funeral. He expressed regrets about not reaching out to Princess Diana more in a 2011 Huffington Post interview, saying, “I kind of feel guilty because she did really like me as a person, and I tended to shy away from calling her because I thought she must have so many people calling her for all the wrong reasons.”
“I knew she was so suspicious of people by then, so I would almost treat her the way I know some people treat me. I would presume it was an intrusion to call, when actually you know they're lonely and would hear a friendly voice,” he continued.
Michael Jackson
Princess Diana was a Michael Jackson superfan and reportedly loved his albums Thriller and Bad - as well as his song 'Dirty Diana.' The song, originally about a groupie, was one that Jackson actually removed from his setlist when she first came to watch him perform in 1988 at Wembley Stadium; however, Princess Diana was having none of it.
Recalling the meeting, Jackson said to Barbara Walters that he took it out to be respectful “in honour of Her Royal Highness.” After she asked him ahead of the show if he would be performing the hit, he recalled, “I said, ‘No, I took it out of the show because of you.’ She said, ‘No! I want you to do it. Do it. Do the song.”
It’s said that when Jackson eventually played the song at the concert, Princess Diana jumped to her feet and danced as Prince Charles sat beside her. From there, Jackson revealed in a 1999 interview that they would frequently ring one another late at night and that she was “extremely close by phone”; talking about everything from their children to the intrusion of paparazzi in their lives.
In 2003, Jackson called her “one of the sweetest people I’ve ever known.” He said, “We shared something in common, with the press. I don’t think they hounded anyone more than her and myself. And we had a relationship, where we would call each other late at night… just cry on each other’s shoulders, how hard and difficult and how mean the tabloids can be.”
When Princess Diana passed in 1997, Jackson recalled to Walters that he fell to his knees and sobbed when he heard the news. He later dedicated his next performance to her.
