Princess Diana might have been part of the royal machine, but she knew how to let her hair down and have fun—even if she had to do it in secret. Thirty years from comic Kenny Everett's April 1995 death, his best friend Cleo Rocos has revealed what really happened on the wild night when they dressed Diana in disguise for a night out at a gay club with none other than Freddie Mercury.
Speaking to the Mirror, Rocos shared that she had joined Everett and Diana for "a jolly lunch at the Bombay Brasserie in London" before their secret outing. "Diana always wanted to know what was going on in the world of showbiz and we always wanted to know what was going on at her house," the actress shared. "We all used to shriek with laughter."
Explaining that Princess Diana would typically return to Kensington Palace after lunch, Rocos continued that on this occasion, the royal decided to go back to Everett's house instead. "I went into the kitchen to make some more cocktails. Diana had kicked her shoes off and she and Kenny were dancing to the Gypsy Kings," Rocos recalled.
It turns out the princess was a fan of Blanche, Rose, Dorothy and Sophia, as the 62-year-old comedian shared, "Kenny called Freddie Mercury and said 'Di’s here come over, we are watching the Golden Girls.'" But after their TV session, Diana decided she wanted to join in for more fun.
"We thought Diana was going to go home as usual, but she asked us where we were going and what we were wearing," Rocos said. She shared that Diana had tried on a camouflage jacket belonging to Rocos's brother that Everett was planning to wear, so the comedian handed her "a leather cap" and "Freddie gave her some aviator sunglasses and she looked amazing."
"We were all laughing and she said 'I want to come too,'" Rocos recalled. "We thought she was joking. Kenny said, 'We are going to a place where there are big hairy men and they fight.' He could just see the headlines— 'Future Queen of England Dies in Gay Bar Brawl.'"
Apparently it was Mercury who convinced the group to let Diana come along, telling them, "Oh let the girl have some fun." Rocos added that the night "wasn't planned" and Diana promised she would only stay "for as long as it takes to order a glass of wine."
The group headed to the Royal Vauxhall Tavern (which, along with the Bombay Brasserie, is still in business if you want to recreate the evening). "Of course, people knew Kenny and Freddie and everyone was saying hello to us, but Diana just looked like Freddie’s boyfriend, a gorgeous male model, and she loved it," Rocos told the outlet.
The actress also wrote about the evening in her book, The Power of Positive Drinking, writing, "We were nudging each other like naughty schoolchildren. Diana and Freddie were giggling." She added, "Once the transaction was completed, we looked at one another, united in our triumphant quest. We did it!"
As for the rest of the outing, Rocos told the Mirror that Diana "stayed about 20 minutes" and "kept the outfit on" during her cab ride back to the palace. "The next day she sent around everything folded up with a note saying she’d had a fabulous time."
"I can transport myself back to that lunch and just see Diana throwing her head back laughing," she shared. "Kenny would say things like 'When is The Queen going to get off the throne and give you a go?' When we got together with her there was edge to edge laughter."
