Members of the Royal Family sometimes strike up friendships with high profile celebrities, with Ellie Goulding, the Beckhams and Sir Elton John counted among friends of The Firm.
In the case of Princess Diana, it was Queen frontman Freddie Mercury and the pair would reportedly get up to “mischief” together - which included Golden Girls reruns and secret outings to gay bars.
In a memoir by Cleo Rocos, The Power of Positive Drinking, the actress recalled one of the more raucous days that she, Princess Diana, Mercury and comedian Kenny Everett spent together in the 1980s.
Rocos recalled that the group had started the afternoon off drinking champagne and watching Golden Girls at Everett’s home, where they improvised their own “naughtier storyline” over the top of muted episodes.
As the day wore on, Princess Diana found out her friends were planning to hit the famed gay bar Royal Vauxhall Tavern and wanted to come along.
At the time, Princess Diana had been catapulted to the height of fame and was the subject of intense media scrutiny. While her friends had reservations about what would happen if the outing was leaked to the press, Diana was reportedly keen to join them.
Saying that she was in “full mischief mode”, it was Mercury who eventually convinced the group by saying, “Go on, let the girl have some fun.”
In an attempt to disguise one of the most photographed women in the world, the group dressed her in male clothing until they were satisfied she would “pass for a rather eccentrically dressed gay male model.”
Rocos added, “She did look like a beautiful young man.”
The mission was eventually a success and Rocos recalled that the group “inched through the leather throngs and thongs” at the bar, where Princess Diana was eventually able to order drinks: a glass of white wine and some beer.
Rocos wrote, “We were nudging each other like naughty schoolchildren. Diana and Freddie were giggling... Once the transaction was completed, we looked at one another, united in our triumphant quest. We did it!”
However, the group only stayed for twenty minutes before leaving.
Mercury was far from the only celebrity friend of Princess Diana, as she counted the likes of Liza Minelli, George Michael and Sir Elton John in her circle too.
Mercury wasn’t the only A-lister to bring out the royal’s cheeky side as Princess Diana even enlisted her friends to help play a 13th birthday prank on Prince William - supermodels Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Claudia Schiffer (who William mistakenly recalled as Cindy Crawford).
In 2017 documentary Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy, Prince William opened up about the embarrassing experience. He said, “[Princess Diana] she organised, when I came home from school to have Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington and Naomi Campbell waiting at the top of the stairs.”
“I was probably a 12 or 13-year-old boy who had posters of them on my wall. And I went bright red and didn't quite know what to say and sort of fumbled, and I think I pretty much fell down the stairs on the way up.”
The supermodels have recounted the experience as well, with Turlington confirming that Schiffer instead of Crawford was there and said, "Diana adored those boys."
Campbell also opened up about it on her YouTube channel, saying, "I went with Claudia [Schiffer] and Christy [Turlington]. And he was coming home from school. And we had gotten there before he had gotten home from school and Princess Diana was like, 'Okay.' So we were just like, 'What do we do?' I mean, it was so sweet."
Princess Diana’s royal chef Darren McGrady also recalled that Princess Diana had gone out of her way to embarrass him, as she also ordered a cake designed to look like “the biggest pair of boobs.”
Prince William fondly recalled that his mother was “the joker” of the family and that the supermodel encounter was “a very funny memory that’s lived with me forever.”
