Wayne Sleep: His legacy, a new project and dancing with Diana | Daily Mail Online Wayne Sleep: His legacy, a new project and dancing with Diana comments Ballet star WAYNE SLEEP has performed with everyone from Nureyev to Princess Diana – but his latest venture, turning amateurs into dancers for a production of Swan Lake, may be his boldest move yet. He tells Liz Jones about his incredible career, his famous friends and why he ‘married for money’ Princess Diana dancing with Wayne at the Royal Opera House in 1985 Wayne Sleep is hunkered down in a big coat, sitting on the wall overlooking the Thames, just across the road from his cottage, which is such a bright pink it might as well be wearing a tutu. He never sits for long. He’s now standing up, demonstrating what happened when he was doing another shoot in this spot, and the photographer wanted swans in the background. ‘So I was up by the bridge, throwing bread, saying, “C’mon! Move it!”’ And he’s gesturing how, through sheer force of will, he persuaded the swans, real ones, to do as they were told. 'I feel Diana every time I laugh.

She was funnier than people thought' It’s both ironic and apt, given his latest TV venture: to turn several…not ugly ducklings, exactly, but nonprofessional, largely overweight amateurs into dancers for a 22-minute performance of scenes from Swan Lake: ‘My God, did we carve up Tchaikovsky – don’t listen too hard! It’s a good job he’s dead!’ Describing these dancers, he has professional ballet’s uncompromising eye: ‘I would say “fat” to start with. I said, “These people are big, they’re wide!” But, by God, did I get a bad response from the girls [in the show], so I said: “Let’s clear up this situation. You are in this show because you’re big.”’ Wayne today with YOU's Liz Jones The working title for the three-part programme is Big Ballet, which to me brings to mind Disney elephants in tutus. Do we have to democratise absolutely everything? Not everyone can be a jockey, a model, a painter or a writer.

For the programme, 500 applicants were whittled down to 16 women and two men, aged from 18 to 52, and who range in size from a 12 to a 20, to be coached by Wayne and dancer Monica Loughman, with insight from the former creative director of the Royal Opera House Deborah Bull, now director of Cultural Partnerships at King’s College London. Wayne today outside his Thames-side home ‘At first, I didn’t want to do it, because I didn’t want it to be a mockery, and for people to laugh. They [the participants] had all been dancers, but had to give up because they put on weight aged nine or ten, or [later] had a baby or were injured. Who has the right to tell a child they can’t go to a dance class?’ Like Wayne, who at 5ft 2in was told he was too small to be a dancer, they are overcoming the odds. Did they succeed? Communication was a problem. ‘I was telling them off a lot. They’re quite tough, these girls: they have to be, with the abuse they got from me!

I said to one dancer, “Look, you in the corner, you’ve got to do all the steps and travel across the room, don’t jump across to the corner on the first step, you’ll be in the car park”, but she never got it. Even on the day of the performance I said, “I don’t know what’s wrong with you!”’ Can big people ever do ballet, really? ‘Well, mind you, [dancer] Isadora Duncan was big! Enormous! I’m not saying the dancers in the programme would get in a ballet company, because they’re far too big. They don’t wear tutus: they cost £2,000 each to make – especially on them! It took me ages to get them to look in the mirror: as a dancer, it’s not narcissism, you are looking to improve. But the girl who danced the swan, she was so pretty, her feeling for the part…well, you can’t make people do that. I’d say, “Swans are enormous birds – be big, you’re not big enough!” The traffic warden, she had lovely legs.’ Was the finale a success?

‘The performance, in Bradford, got a standing ovation. I cried, I had to run away from the camera.’ With Freddie Mercury and Elton John at the Live Aid concert, 1985 We go back to the pretty house, past the garden full of lavender, and into the warm. It was once lived in by Nancy Mitford, who wrote The Pursuit of Love here. A photograph of her in a bias-cut dress, next to a fireplace, is above the exact same fireplace, now in an open-plan kitchen with views of the grey Thames twinkling between the trees. Does he feel her spirit here? ‘I do. And José feels it too, even though he’s not English.’ José is his long-time partner: ‘We’ve been together 20…22 years. I’d better get it right or he’ll kill me!’ 'My God, did we carve up Tchaikovsky – it’s a good job he’s dead!' They met when José was running a bar in Spain. ‘We are civil partners. Because of the money – I don’t want the government to have it if I die. And he wouldn’t have a house.

He married for love, I married for money!’ Most of their possessions seem to be in packing cases; they only moved here in April. Wayne’s many framed magazine covers and posters for performances are stacked against one wall. There is a Time Out cover where he’s caught mid-air: he holds the world record for the entrechat-douze, a jump with six beats of the feet in mid-air. Left, Wayne in Cats with Bonnie Langford, 1981; right, rehearsing The Hot Shoe Show, 1985 Are there any Diana mementos? He and the princess met in the Crush bar of the Opera House, and were close friends for 17 years. ‘They are all packed away. When she died, I had so many phone calls from people, saying they had a message from her for me, that I didn’t want to talk about her. But I don’t mind now. I feel her every time I laugh. She was funny, a lot funnier than people thought.’ Did he go to William and Kate’s wedding (he has an OBE, after all)? ‘No. But Harry invited me to the chapel on the tenth anniversary of her death, which was a privilege.

And, you know, that sort of buried it...’ He guffaws when he notices his faux pas. You can see why she loved him so much. She always signed her name ‘Wales’ when she wrote to him, after the time when she phoned him at his hotel in Munich and he had no idea who she was, so she shouted, ‘Diana. Wales!’ He is wickedly irreverent, about everyone and everything. Of course, Diana had dabbled in ballet as a young girl, and Wayne later danced with her on-stage at a Royal Opera House gala in 1985, to ‘Uptown Girl’, as a surprise for her husband: the mismatch in size was almost comical. As he was so small, he was never cast as Prince Charming or Romeo, but he took this as a positive, as he had time to dabble in new things. Sizing up to Princess Diana in 1989 The son of a band-leader father he never knew, Wayne was four when his mother Joan married Stanley, a clerk. Wayne didn’t get on with his stepfather, and was so stressed his skin fell off in flakes.

He started dancing aged eight and at 13 won a scholarship for the Royal Ballet School, which meant he was able to live away from home. As a teenager, he simply stopped growing. ‘[Choreographer] Frederick Ashton would get hold of me by the hair and pull me up, saying, “Grow, Sleep, grow!” as if to make me taller. I was about to take growth hormones, but [Royal Ballet founder] Dame Ninette de Valois found out and said, “You are not going to take this pill. You are just going to have to spin faster and jump twice as high as anyone else.”’ Ashton, Kenneth MacMillan and Rudolf Nureyev all created roles for him. While male dancers had to be big and strong, the strictures on the ballerinas were even worse. ‘The ballerinas would have breast reductions because they looked top heavy, it looked all wrong.’ Is that the case today? ‘Everything is much more scientific, the dancers are closely monitored, everything has to be nutritionally balanced.

You don’t leave the Opera House, even if you only have class that day: you go into pilates, on the treadmill, you’ll have a massage, you’ll be in physio. You have to warm down now, which we never did. I was off to a boozy lunch, darling! Madame [de Valois] loved me for that; I was one of the boys. I know I’m gay, but I don’t dance gay.’ Receiving his OBE at Buckingham Palace, 1998 I say that, surely, ballet dancers are fitter than any athlete. ‘We are. And we can’t even show that we are sweating!’ I tell him my mum was a ballerina, but gave it up during the war when she got married. Even so, the discipline left her crippled: she had to have new knees, new hips. Wayne, too, had a hip replacement nearly four years ago, only weeks before he was welcomed back into the Royal Ballet fold, as an Ugly Sister in Cinderella.

‘But now,’ he says, leaping up again, belying his 65 years, swinging his leg up somewhere near his ears, ‘I’m bionic!’ Are his feet disfigured? ‘Male dancers were always on demi pointe, so your toes [he crushes them] are agony. I’ve had mine done. A brilliant surgeon.’ Wayne left the Royal Ballet in the early 80s to perform in the original production of Cats as Mistoffelees with Sarah Brightman and to put on his own show, Dash, which was ‘poo-poohed by the critics – I don’t understand the snobbery really.’ It turned out to be a huge success. From his size to his attitude, he has always been anti-establishment. ‘But, you know, even now when I walk into a ballet company crowd, maybe at a gala or something, the director or someone will just go [and he puts an index finger to his mouth, set in a disapproving moue] “Oh yes…” and turn away.’ Wasn’t it hard, though, leaving an institution he’d known all his life? ‘I just felt so vulnerable. You are cocooned in the Opera House.

The passports were all taken care of. When I had to go on my first holiday abroad I didn’t know what to do!’ With Andrew Lloyd Webber and Lynsey de Paul But despite the hard work, and all the reality TV shows he has done (I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! and Celebrity Come Dine With Me), he says, ‘I’m broke, I’m broke!’ It seems it’s rare for dancers to make money. ‘I mean, Rudolf made tons of money because he guested all over the world, but Margot Fonteyn died a pauper. I think you’ve got to be addicted to it. It hurts too much not to be.’ He knew both Nureyev and Baryshnikov intimately. ‘Baryshnikov gave me the biggest compliment of my life. He said, “Remind me never to dance with you again.” Nureyev could be very temperamental. When he used to do Oberon and I was Puck, he would say, “Move out of the way!” Rudolf was like a panther.

We were taught in the English style to make everything look easy, whereas he…’ and he gets up, to demonstrate how he would be an English swan, and how Nureyev danced: all that Russian angst in every sinew. Left, with his partner José (right) after exiting I’m A Celebrity… in 2003; right, with Rudolf Nureyev in 1988 I bring up the fact ballet is in the news because a Bolshoi soloist is accused of arranging for a man to throw acid in the face of the artistic director. ‘I mean Rudolf was a bit like that. He didn’t throw acid at people’s faces but he threw plates at them and got away with it because he was so phenomenal.’ Nureyev gave a new lease of life to Margot Fonteyn’s career: she was in her early 40s when they started dancing together. ‘She had an ideal physique, never had an inch of fat on her. She was about to give up, and then she met Nureyev. She carried on until she was 65.’ Will he keep dancing past that milestone? ‘No.

I don’t want to go on for ever.’ Has he put on weight since stopping dancing full time? ‘I don’t like being [and he mouths, as if in a panto] F-A-T.’ Wayne in rehearsals for Channel 4's Big Ballet The painter David Hockney is a close friend. ‘We met…well, I fancied his boyfriend Peter Schlesinger actually, he was in this Ossie Clark snakeskin jacket, bloody marvellous, he was so pretty! I remember this man with white hair and black spectacles coming in to watch us do class. There is a painting of me by Hockney, sitting at Fred [Ashton’s] feet. We struck up a nice relationship and he liked to draw me and I became one of the family. As soon as it’s light, he’s up, all he does now is paint. All he ever wanted to do was show you colour. He is very deaf.’ Does he have a hearing aid? ‘He’s got two.

He says, “What’s the point in me going to dinner with you, it’s all boom boom boom!” ‘I might be going into the Tate, next to [Hockney’s famous portrait of] Ossie and Celia [Birtwell]. I would love it. I think I’m taller in the painting…’ Big Ballet will be on Channel 4 next year Princess Diana's dance with John Travolta made her feel like elephant, letters show - Telegraph The Royal Family Princess Diana's dance with John Travolta made her feel like elephant, letters show She famously twirled around the dancefloor with John Travolta, but Diana, Princess of Wales confided in a letter: "Watching me dance is like watching an elephant." By Anita Singh, Showbusiness Editor 2:51PM BST 22 Sep 2008 Previously unseen correspondence between Diana and her former nanny, Mary Clarke, provides a fascinating insight into the young princess's life. She writes guilelessly of her love for the Prince of Wales, the frantic preparations for their wedding day and her happiness in the early years of marriage.

Mrs Clarke is selling the four letters at Colchester auctioneers Reeman Dansie on September 30, where they are expected to fetch more than £10,000. They begin when Diana was a teenager. Writing from the Spencer family seat, Althorp, in 1978, the 17-year-old told Mrs Clarke: "My love of my life is dancing, things like tap, modern, ballet and jazz. Also I love singing, even though my voice sounds awful, and watching me dance is like watching an elephant, so no-one does!" Seven years later, the princess captivated America when she danced with Hollywood actor Travolta at a gala dinner in Washington. That same year, she performed with Wayne Sleep at the Royal Opera House, as a surprise treat for Charles' birthday. Related Articles Diana quotes from the letters 22 Sep 2008 The correspondence continues throughout Diana's courtship and the run-up to her fairytale wedding at St Paul's Cathedral in July 1981. "Not long to go now and about time too!" she wrote from Buckingham Palace, two weeks before the big day.

Six months into their marriage, she told Mrs Clarke: "I adore being married and having someone to devote my time [sic]," but hinted that she felt constrained by royal protocol. "I do get annoyed at not being able to do my washing and general ironing!" In the same letter, she described the "total despair" of morning sickness while pregnant with Prince William, whom she referred to as "Baby Wales". Mrs Clarke said: "It will be a wrench to let the letters go, but I will always have my memories of Diana, who was such a wonderful woman. But those memories are tinged with sadness because her dreams were completely shattered. "Diana really did love her husband. That was her one ambition in life, to get married, to look after her husband and to have children. Diana was so upset by her parents' divorce, she was determined that she would never divorce herself. When she marred Charles I remember writing to her and saying she was marrying the only man in the country from whom she could never be divorced.

Sadly, that was not to be." Princess Diana's friend Wayne Sleep on a bond FAR closer than anyone knew | Daily Mail Online comments Wayne Sleep gets up off his chair and starts to dance in front of our restaurant table, finishing off with a flourish and a twirl. At 65 he still has that irrepressible joie de vivre that captivated the nation 30 years ago when, to the consternation of the Royal Ballet, he broke away from its confines to embrace TV light entertainment. He went from Nutcracker and Nureyev to Lena Zavarone in one not-so-giant leap. Andrew Lloyd Webber cast him as Mr Mistoffelees in the original production of Cats, followed soon after by the musical Song And Dance, created especially for him. The idea that they dance together came from Princess Diana at a time when she was receiving private dance lessons Sleep then developed his own dance extravaganza Dash, which for years filled theatres across the UK. But none of this success had the impact of a three-minute performance in 1985 at the Royal Opera House, the home of the Royal Ballet, dancing with his friend Princess Diana.

RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share The ballet cognoscenti could dismiss him for selling out, but he helped break down the barriers between ballet and mass entertainment, something we take for granted today. As he says: ‘It’s all right now, isn’t it, for Darcey Bussell to go on Strictly? ‘I performed on a lot of the variety shows at that time. It wasn’t mind-blowing art. But to me it’s all entertainment. We are there to entertain.’ The graceful princess had dreamed as a child of becoming a ballerina at the Royal Ballet Sleep is doing it again with a new Channel 4 show, Big Ballet, where he and dancer Monica Loughman take 16 big ladies and two men — ranging in size from 12 to 20 and in age from 19 to 52 — who couldn’t live out their dreams of becoming ballerinas or ballet dancers and show that no matter what your size, we are all capable of dancing gracefully. Well, we can attempt it at least. Big Ballet is a surprisingly touching cross between reality show and documentary.

If you consider Sleep’s lack of height — he is 5ft 2in — you can understand why he identifies with his dancers’ struggle. Sleep was the shortest dancer to be admitted to the Royal Ballet School. He was there from the age of 12 and as everybody else carried on growing he came to a halt. He had to study a year longer than everyone else because he could not get a place in a ballet company. But then his talent was recognised by choreographer Sir Frederick Ashton. hey chose contemporary dance for their performance to Billy Joel's Uptown Girl, and they glided across the stage Eventually Ashton, choreographer Sir Kenneth Mac- Millan and Rudolph Nureyev all created roles for him. He is mentioned three times in the stage version of Billy Elliot as being the inspiration for the fictional Billy, a working-class boy from the North East. Sleep was the illegitimate son of a waitress, born in Plymouth, and moved with his family to Hartlepool when he was three. When his mother married, Wayne was kept out of the wedding photographs. ‘My mother was protecting me,’ he says, such was the stigma attached to a child born out of wedlock.

That sense of being an outsider was perpetuated by his lack of height. Wayne didn’t get on with his stepfather and dance became his refuge. All these years on, he is visibly moved by the dancers on Big Ballet, and the thwarted dreams which so easily could have been his story. As he puts his not-so-little troupe through their paces, culminating in the public performance of an abridged 24-minute Swan Lake, he is brought to tears. A close bond: The pair were introduced in the Crush Bar of the Royal Opera House in 1981 But he admits he was wary of taking part in the show, fearful it would ridicule the fuller-figured ladies. ‘I was very reluctant because I thought it was going to be for laughs. When they said big I thought they meant tall people dancing with someone small like me. When they explained I said no. ‘I wanted to be able to walk into the Royal Opera House with my head held high at the end of this, and if it was going to be a send-up I wouldn’t do it. They assured me that wasn’t the case.

‘We based the show in Leeds and had about 500 applicants just from the North of England. Wanting to be a ballet dancer is still in some of them. There is something they are still searching for and I think we helped them find it.’ The show follows the emotional journey of a traffic warden, council worker, copywriter, RSPCA manager, and fitness instructor. ‘If you look back to the time of Diaghilev [the pioneering Russian ballet impresario of the early 20th century], dancers were bigger then. There were these big, bulky ladies like Isadora Duncan,’ says Sleep. She became a regular visitor at his South Kensington mews flat, down the road from her home at Kensington Palace ‘Today you need lean, sinewy racehorses with amazing ligaments that can stretch. But that doesn’t mean big people can’t dance.’ Princess Diana was certainly not overweight when he helped her achieve her own dream of dancing onstage at the Royal Opera House in 1985. But at just under 5ft 11in she towered over Sleep.

The idea that they dance together came from her at a time when she was receiving private dance lessons having dreamed as a child of becoming a ballerina at the Royal Ballet. They chose contemporary dance for their performance to Billy Joel’s Uptown Girl, and they glided across the stage clearly comfortable with each other. This was a reflection of the affection that had built up since they were introduced in the Crush Bar of the Royal Opera House in 1981. She became a regular visitor at his South Kensington mews flat, down the road from her home at Kensington Palace. Diana wanted to surprise her ex-husband Prince Charles with her performance ‘We were closer than people think,’ he says. ‘We were friends for ten years. She would come to the mews, I cooked, we had a laugh. The first thing she did when she came in was kick her shoes off. She came to see every show I did.

When I was performing at the Dominion she came along and said: “Do you want me to sit in the wings or out front?” I said: “Sit out front, it’s a better view.” And she said: “Do you want them to be looking at you or me?” I said, “Sit in the wings.” ‘We had a schoolboy/schoolgirl humour and I doubt whether she could share that with a lot of people. ‘When I was in Munich on tour with Song and Dance I got a call at my hotel on my day off, saying, “This is your early morning call.” I said, “I didn’t ask for an early morning call!” And she said, “It’s Diana.” I said, “Diana who? I don’t know any Diana”. And she went “Diana Wales”. She was at the next hotel and I went over and she greeted me in the lift and served me breakfast in her suite, just as a laugh. Little things like that. ‘It was her idea to dance with me. She took to dancing like a duck to water, she was such a natural.

I couldn’t believe how good she was, she was a wow.’ They gradually drifted apart, and it was only after her death in 1997 that he learned how lonely she had become Diana wanted to surprise Prince Charles with her performance. ‘We had eight curtain calls and she wanted to do it again but I said, “No, it’s best to leave them wanting more. Now bow to the royal box”. She said, “I am not bowing to him: he’s my hubby.” ‘That’s how we were, silly banter, fun and giggly. She knew whatever she said to me would go no further.’ Later she wrote to thank him. ‘The letter said: “Now I understand the buzz you get from performing. It’s fantastic.” ’ But after photographs she sent him of the performance appeared in the papers he believes she blamed him. ‘I think she thought it was me who had passed them on.

I think that was the start of her thinking, “Can I trust him or not?” And it wasn’t me at all, it was the photographer.’ In 2003 he came out of his self-imposed media and social purdah to appear on I¿m A Celebrity¿.¿.¿.¿Get Me Out Of Here! They gradually drifted apart, and it was only after her death in 1997 that he learned how lonely she had become. ‘If I’d known I would have made much more of an effort. I thought she had much closer friends than I was and I don’t think she had that many at all,’ he says. The early Nineties had been a difficult time for Sleep. He was estranged from his mother after she became a Jehovah’s Witness. In 1991 his friend Freddie Mercury died from bronchial pneumonia due to AIDS. Two years later their mutual friend Kenny Everett announced he was suffering from HIV/AIDS and died in 1995. Sleep was targeted by a Sunday tabloid convinced he had the virus. Four journalists camped outside his home.

‘One of them said, “Come out, we know you’re dying.”’ He believes they went after him because of his association with Diana. ‘She said to me at one point: “It must be awful knowing me.” And I said: “What do you mean?” ‘And I suddenly realised what she meant: I had become famous for knowing her. So if they could find something bad about me, they could then say: “What is she doing with him?” ’ Sleep hired a lawyer who convinced the paper the allegations were untrue and highly defamatory, but the episode had a profound effect on him. ‘I thought I didn’t do it for this. I just couldn’t handle it. I thought I was over the hill. I couldn’t think of anything new to do, so I gave up. ‘My relationship ended with an architect, so I was on my own. On tour I had started to drink brandy and port. I’d knock them back, go to bed, get up at 4pm, go to rehearsals, and be perfectly all right on stage.’ But he adds: ‘Then when I stopped touring I just cried into my pillow and realised I was so alone.

I woke up in the morning and just went out and drank. The next morning I’d wake up and phone my best friend George and he’d say, “Wasn’t it a lovely evening?” and I couldn’t remember. I realised I had to stop.’ The ballet dancer say Princess Diana took to dancing like a duck to water, and 'was such a natural' He says he never had a nervous breakdown, preferring the term ‘meltdown’, and denies ever being an alcoholic. Today, he’s still able to drink socially. ‘I am lucky. If I don’t have another drink in my life it wouldn’t bother me at all. But now, as I’m getting older, I do want to be more dignified.’ Outwardly at least, whatever problems he had in that direction appear to have faded, his mind is sharp and focused and he looks healthy and in shape. And he is content in his personal life with his partner of 20 years José Bergera. They went through a civil partnership four years ago. In 2003 he came out of his self-imposed media and social purdah to appear on I’m A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out Of Here! ‘I wanted to improve my profile.

I had set up my foundation to provide scholarships for young dancers and raised £88,000 for it from being on the show,’ he explains. ‘I didn’t find the conditions hard, except the dunny, which I was a bit shocked at. I was expecting a Portakabin. It was only a bucket with a piece of wood across it and some hessian around it. Being small I couldn’t quite reach. Sleep says he never had a nervous breakdown, preferring the term 'meltdown', and denies ever being an alcoholic ‘They might as well have called the show Ready, Steady, Cook the way Anthony Worrall-Thompson took it over. All he wanted to do was prepare dinner. ‘But I had no regrets doing it. I stayed until the day before the end. I could have stayed until the end but I fractured my foot jumping on my bed. I couldn’t walk.’ Appearing on I’m A Celebrity not only brought him back to the wider public’s attention, it also brought him out of himself. He is no longer hiding away.

Four years ago he returned to the stage at the Royal Ballet to play an Ugly Sister in Cinderella and as his appearances on Stepping Out — the dance show he’s done on ITV to rival Strictly — and Big Ballet show, he is at ease with himself on TV. Over the years he has truly suffered for his art. There are four screws in his shoulder. He’s torn his medial ligament, sprained his ankles about six times, broken his metatarsal and big toe and soon after his Ugly Sister appearance had a hip replacement. ‘It came to the point I couldn’t reach my sock and I thought: “This isn’t just theatre you need repairing for, this is your life.” I staggered in and had a hip replacement, and the next day I thought I had gone to heaven. ‘It is one hundred per cent resolved. I have a ceramic ball and socket and titanium right down the middle of my marrow.’ And off he skips, a new man in more ways than one. Big Ballet is on Channel 4 next Thursday at 9pm.

John Travolta | Lisa's History Room Lisa's History Room where the past is always present Feeds: Posted in PEOPLE , POLITICS & GOV'T , Prince Charles of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall , Princess Diana , ROYALTY/NOBILITY , tagged Billy Joel , biographies of royalty , British Royal Family/Nobles , Buckingham Palace , Covent Garden , John Travolta , pictures of Princess Diana , Prince Charles , Princess Diana , Princess Diana and the Reagans. , Princess Diana at the White House , Princess Diana dances at Covent Garden , Princess Diana dances with John Travolta , Princess Diana dancing , Ronald Reagan and "Princess David" remark , Uptown Girl and Princess Diana , Wayne Sleep on January 11, 2011 | 10 Comments » May 6 1985: Princess Diana, Prince Charles and their sons Harry and William on board royal yacht Britannia in Venice. It’s 1985. Prince Charles and Princess Diana have been married close to five years. He’s 37; she’s 24. They have two young and healthy sons. Charles and Di have everything. They are rich and famous and, by all rights, should be happy.

They seem happy in most photos. But they are not. Their marriage is in trouble but it will be another 11 years before it crashes for good. Princess Diana arrives at the Royal Opera House, London. Dec. 1985 It’s December – Christmastime – and the two of them are out on the town together in London. It’s a special night. They are seated at the Royal Box at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden. It’s a VIP evening for “Friends of Covent Garden,” composed of skits and entertainment for special patrons. Silly things happen at this event – dancers sing, singers dance, and, occasionally, a celebrity might turn up on stage unexpectedly and wow the audience. Just the previous year, matter of fact, Charles and Di had done that very thing. They had performed a skit together – as Romeo and Juliet – and the Prince had sung an ad jingle, “Just One Cornetto.” Back to December 1985. The show is drawing to a close. Imagine Charles’s surprise when, just two numbers before the end of the show, Diana slips from the Royal Box and, minutes later, emerges on stage. She is going to perform!

She wears a slinky white dress and begins dancing seductively to Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl.” Princess Diana and Wayne Sleep dance to Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl" at Covent Garden, December 1985. Uptown Girl She’s been living in her uptown world I bet she’s never had a backstreet guy I bet her mama never told her why Diana – at 5’10” – towers over her dance partner, Wayne Sleep. At 5’2″, Sleep is the shortest dancer ever admitted into the Royal Ballet School. He recalled his pas de deux with the princess that night: The Prince nearly fell out of his chair, especially when [Diana] did the kicks over my head….I was worried she’d fall apart under the spotlight, but she totally carried it off. Not many people could handle being under such scrutiny in front of an insiderly audience on that huge Covent Garden stage. She showed natural star quality.” (1) Everyone – except Charles – is thrilled by Diana’s performance. She receives a standing ovation and eight curtain calls.

At a reception afterwards, Sleep recalled that Charles was aloof, making it embarrassingly clear that he disapproved of Diana’s performance (or was he just plain jealous because he wasn’t asked to participate?). Diana had rehearsed for weeks in secret and was performing just to please Charles. Again, her efforts fall short. Of course, we know now why she couldn’t please him. He didn’t need her. He had Camilla. Where did Diana get the personal courage to perform a seductive dance in front of 2,600 people? Well, thank Nancy Reagan for giving Di the opportunity to shine at something she was good at. Just a month before, Diana had danced with John Travolta (at Nancy’s request) at a gala White House dinner given by the Reagans, dazzling Washington and the world with her youthful beauty, dancing grace, and sex appeal. John Travolta and Princess Diana dance in the East Room of the White House, November 1986. Standing up to welcome Prince Charles and Princess Diana, President Reagan, in after-dinner remarks, flubbed the princess's name.

Standing up in welcome, the president offered a toast to Prince Charles and "his lovely lady, Princess David." By the time she returned to London, everyone was abuzz with Diana’s splashy American visit: The Princess of Wales had become a walking monument – British opinion polls said she was the country’s greatest tourist attraction….One national survey calculated that from 1983-1985, she had generated $66.6 million in revenue from magazines, books, and tourists.” (2) “Shy Di looking up through the eyelashes” had gone off to America but Confident Di had returned in her place. She made Buckingham Palace nervous – and with good reason. It could no longer control her. (1) Brown, Tina. The Diana Chronicles. New York: Doubleday, 2007. (2) Kelley, Kitty. The Royals. New York: Warner Books, Inc., 1997. Readers: For more on Princess Diana and the British Royal Family, click here .

Share this: Posted in PEOPLE , Prince Charles of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall , Princess Diana , ROYALTY/NOBILITY , Sarah, the Duchess of York (Fergie) , tagged biographies of royalty , Duchess of York , Elton John , Fergie , Gianni Versace , John Travolta , John Travolta and Princess Diana dancing , Kensington Palace , My Story by Sarah the Duchess of York , Paul Burrell , Princess Diana , Princess Diana's charities , Princess Diana's death , Queen Elizabeth II , Rock and Royalty , the British Royal Family , the Queen , the White House on October 27, 2010 | 4 Comments » Princess Diana, 1997 Following her 1996 divorce from Prince Charles, Princess Diana downsized her life. She reduced her Kensington Palace staff to cleaner, cook, and dresser with Paul Burrell filling in the gaps as her man Friday. The police, not the Royal Protection Squad, accompanied her to public events. She pared down the list of charities she supported from 100 to 6.

She culled her wardrobe, throwing out dresses that reminded her of her previous life, famously donating 79 of them to charity at a June 1997 Christie’s auction , including the black dress she wore while dancing with actor John Travolta at the White House in 1985. American Actor John Travolta and Princess Diana of Great Britain dance at the White House, 1985. She changed her friends. She dumped old confidante Elton John after he acted as a go-between with her and fashion designer Gianni Versace for Versace’s 1997 coffee-table book Rock and Royalty. Diana blamed John for carelessly placing a photograph of the Princess and her sons in the book amid a portfolio of semi-nude male models, which Diana rightly feared would upset the Queen. In July 1997, Diana did make up with Elton John, consoling him at Versace’s memorial service. Princess Diana comforts rock star Elton John at the 1997 memorial for slain fashion designer Gianni Versace By the end of August, Diana, too, would be dead, and John would play the piano at her funeral.

In 2008, John reflected on Princess Diana’s last year: I think in the end…Diana trusted the wrong people. She didn’t trust the people she should have trusted, her true friends. I always thought the people that really felt for her and really were true to her she just was a bit airy fairy towards in the end.” Fergie was another of Diana’s old friends that got the heave-ho in the last year of her life. This rupture was also a result of the publication of a book. Back in 1985, Sarah, the Duchess of York, and Princess Diana were close friends. In her memoir, My Story: by Sarah, the Duchess of York, the divorced duchess shared that she and Diana wore the same size of shoes and often shared them. Fergie claimed that she caught a verruca—a plantar wart – after wearing a pair of Diana’s shoes. Diana was aghast that her old friend and former sister-in-law would portray her in such unflattering detail just to make a buck. Despite Fergie’s repeated apologies, Diana would not forgive her. She never spoke to Fergie again. Brown, Tina.

“Diana’s Final Heartbreak,” Vanity Fair, July 2007. For more on Princess Diana, click here . Share this: Prince Charles of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall | Lisa's History Room Posted in Barbara Cartland , British Royal Family/Nobles , Duke and Duchess of Windsor, the , PEOPLE , Prince Charles of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall , Princess Diana , Princess Margaret , Queen Elizabeth II , ROYALTY/NOBILITY , tagged A Hazard of Hearts , Barbara Cartland , biographies of royal women , biographies of women , biographies of women writers , charles and camilla affair , Diana Spencer , Duke and Duchess of Windsor , Duke and Duchess of Windsor private parts , English Rose , fairy tale , Johnny Spencer , Lady Diana , pictures of Princess Diana , pictures of Princess Diana reading.

, pictures of Princess Diana young , Prince Charles , prince charming , Princess Diana , Princess Diana and Barbara Cartland , Princess Margaret , Queen Elizabeth , Queen of Hearts , Raine Spencer , romance novels , Sarah Spencer , wedding of diana and charles , writing on June 6, 2014 | Leave a Comment » Lady Diana Spencer reads a romance novel by her favorite author, Barbara Cartland. Diana is probably 16 years old. Photo ca. 1977 Princess Diana (1961-1977) loved to read romantic fiction. She devoured novels by British author Barbara Cartland, of which there was an endless and steady supply. In her lifetime, Cartland (1901-2000) is credited with having written 723 books. In 1983 alone, she wrote 23 of them. She holds The Guinness Book of World Records for writing the most books in a single year. Reclining on a chaise lounge at her home, Cartland dictated her hundreds of stories to her secretary. They both wore pink. Pink was Cartland’s signature color.

British romance novelist Barbara Cartland dictates stories to her secretary Jean Smith while relaxing at home in Camfield Place in Essendon, U.K. Barbara Cartland Cartland, self-styled as the “Queen of Romance,” was a celebrity favorite with journalists as she was always holding forth on topics of the day, and sometimes saying outrageous and unprintable things such as speculating on the private parts of the exiled Duke and Duchess of Windsor. She was well-known for her flamboyant appearance, resembling a fairy queen with cotton candy hair. Her dresses were ultra-girly, adorned with feathers, frills, flounces, fluff, and froth. She was heavily perfumed and glittered with jewels. Her thick make-up was more suited to the stage, and the end result was often clown-like. To achieve a more youthful look, she pulled back her cheeks with the application of sticking plaster (which, sadly, often showed). Her “forests of false eyelashes” were legendary, jet black, and preposterous. Her secret?

In 1959, she wrote to a fan that, instead of mascara: I use Meltonian black shoe cream for my eyelashes.” ( 1 ) Barbara Cartland up close In her writing as well as her appearance, Cartland was an accomplished illusionist. Her books were fairy tales of the most fantastic nature. In them, the young virgin heroine – usually with an exotic name like Vada, Lalitha, Syringa, Fenella, Kamala, or Anthea – always marries Prince Charming. They live happily ever after. They never quarrel, they don’t have affairs, and they certainly don’t divorce. More than one of Diana’s Spencer’s acquaintances remarked on her dreamy nature. Photo ca. 1977 Not so in the Spencer household. From her earliest years, Princess Diana’s parents had had a troubled marriage, and her home was a scene of violent quarrels. Diana’s mother, Frances, felt as if her husband Johnnie Spencer, Viscount Spencer, treated her like a brood mare, sending her to fertility experts to explain why she had given birth to three girls in a row. He wanted a male heir to carry on the royal family line.

Diana listened behind the door when her parents had a shouting match and her sister turned up the record player volume. Frances did give birth to a boy, Charles, but the breach in the marriage had become, by then, an unbridgeable chasm. When Diana was six, her mother left her four children and husband to pursue an affair in London with Peter Shand Kydd, also married. In 1968, she divorced Diana’s father, Johnnie Spencer, who, surprisingly for the times, was granted custody of the children. It is not surprising once you know that a surprise witness at the divorce hearing provided the damning testimony that decided in his favor. Testifying to Johnnie’s superior parenting skills was Frances’s own mother, Lady Fermoy, testifying against her daughter. Three months after the divorce, Frances married Kydd and they moved to Scotland. With her two older sisters away at boarding school, only Diana and her younger brother Charles remained behind at Park House on the Queen’s royal Sandringham estate. Her father holed up, silently, in his study, abandoned.

The spirit of gaiety was gone from Park House along with Frances’s furniture.” (2) A Hazard of Hearts (1948) by Barbara Cartland Cartland’s novels provided young Diana Spencer with an escape into a fantasy dream world. Diana came to believe in the magical rescue power of princes, waiting for her prince to ride up and take her away to her own happy ending. Her life view was shaped by this unreality and it would pitch her into a cold marriage to a man whose heart already belonged to another. No fairy tale is complete without a wicked stepmother, and, in July, 1976, Diana got one. Her name was Raine, Countess Dartmouth. By this time, the Spencers had moved into the family’s stately home of Althorp, as Diana’s grandfather had died, passing the earldom on to Johnnie. He became the 8th Earl Spencer and Diana became Lady Diana. Raine began an extensive remodeling of Althorp, proving unpopular with Diana and her siblings, who hated their new (wicked) stepmother, calling her “Acid Raine.” Johnnie, however, became very happy after his marriage to Raine.

Princess Diana, at right, stands with stepmother, Raine, Countess Spencer, middle, and a friend. Undated photo, ca. 1977 Now that you have seen this photo of Raine (above), you will not find it hard to believe that her mother was Barbara Cartland, Diana’s favorite novelist! That made Cartland Diana’s stepgrandmother. She learned of Diana’s love for her books and sent them to Diana by the cartload. In 1977, Diana moved into Coleherne Court in South Kensington, London. Her roommates remember that she always got up before the meal was finished to clear the table. She hated dirty dishes. Diana loved to do the washing and ironing of shirts for friends. Her big sister Sarah paid her to clean her apartment. Diana was Cinderella, sweeping the hearth free of ashes. Diana first revealed her crush on Prince Charles when on a ski holiday with friends in Val Claret in the French Alps. She surprised her friends one evening, saying that she was going to marry Charles AKA Prince Charming. According to those who knew her well, Diana kept herself chaste for her husband on their wedding night.

( 3 ) Oxford student Adam Russell sits with Lady Diana Spencer. They are vacationing with a group in the French Alps. Russell is said to have had a ‘galumphing’ crush on Diana. Nothing, however, happened between them. According to royal author Andrew Morton, Mr Russell went travelling for a year, and when he returned to the UK in 1980 and told a friend that he liked Diana, he was told: ‘You’ve only got one rival, the Prince of Wales’. Source: The Daily Mail And Lady Diana did indeed marry Prince Charles on July 29, 1981. Her fairy tale unfolded as she had imagined. Her father gave her away. She wore a confection of a dress with a 25 foot-long train. She rode to St. Paul’s Cathedral in a carriage. She became Her Royal Highness, Diana, Princess of Wales. When Charles became King one day, she would become his queen, and their son, a king, too. Prince Charles and Princess Diana smile for their wedding photo. July 1981 As we all know, Diana’s life with Charles did not have a happy ending.

Her marriage was miserable, ending in a nasty divorce (1996) which led to her disastrous loneliness and tragic death (1997). Diana’s story was a fractured fairy tale of the worst imaginable kind. By the way, stepmother Raine attended the royal wedding. However, stepgrandmother Barbara Cartland – the fairy queen who nurtured this fairy tale of Diana’s – did not attend. Someone – maybe the Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret – considered her an embarrassment and did not want her there. We don’t know if she wasn’t invited OR was offered an invitation but declined because her seat was behind a column! Anyway, not being present at Diana’s wedding proved to be the biggest humiliation of Barbara Cartland’s life. In 1993, Barbara Cartland remarked: The only books Diana ever read were mine, and they weren’t terribly good for her.” (2) In 1996, Cartland had figured out why the marriage had failed: Of course, you know where it all went wrong. She wouldn’t do oral sex.” Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned…. For more about Princess Diana, click here .

Posted in British Royal Family/Nobles , PEOPLE , Prince Charles of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall , ROYALTY/NOBILITY , tagged Camilla , Prince Charles , the British Royal Family , the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall , the Prince of Wales on November 12, 2011 | 5 Comments » In 2009, British Esquire named Prince Charles the World's Best Dressed Man. "He is perfectly turned out in a double-breasted suit," they claim. "Admirably, the prince keeps his wardrobe in appropriate style: we're told he has a room laid out like a tailor's shop." Not in Front of the Corgis, a new book to be released in June 2012 by biographer Brian Hoey, gives us a “behind closed doors” look at the British Royal Family.

Here’s a preview of a section on Prince Charles and Camilla: Prince Charles employs 133 staff to look after him and Camilla, more than 60 of them domestics: chefs, cooks, footmen, housemaids, gardeners, chauffeurs, cleaners, and his three personal valets—gentleman’s gentlemen—whose sole responsibility is the care of their royal master’s extensive wardrobe and choosing what he is to wear on any particular day. A serving soldier polishes the prince’s boots and shoes every day—he has 50 handmade pairs each costing over £800 ($1275) by Lobb of St James’s—and a housemaid washes his underwear as soon as it is discarded. Nothing Charles or Camilla wears is ever allowed near a washing machine. Particular attention is paid to handkerchiefs, which are monogrammed and again all hand-washed, as it was found that when they were sent to a laundry, some would go missing—as souvenirs.

HRH’s suits, of which he has 60, cost more than £3,000 ($4780) each, and his shirts, all handmade, cost £350 ($558) a time (he has more than 200), while his collar stiffeners are solid gold or silver. Charles’s valets also iron the laces of his shoes whenever they are taken off. Readers: For more on the British Royal Family on this blog, click here . Share this: Posted in British Royal Family/Nobles , PEOPLE , Prince Charles of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall , Prince William & Catherine, Duke & Duchess of Cambridge , Princess Diana , ROYALTY/NOBILITY , tagged biographies of royalty , British Royal Family/Nobles , Newsweek cover of Princess Diana , pictures of Kate Middleton , pictures of Princess Diana , Priincess Diana's 50th birthday , Princess Diana , the Daily Beast , William and Kate on July 1, 2011 | 4 Comments » This week's current Newsweek cover featuring a fantasy image of what Princess Diana, had she lived, might have looked like at age 50. The image has sparked tremendous backlash.

The Daily Beast has provided a photo gallery of Princess Diana over the years. Had she lived, she would have turned 50 today, July 1, 2011: “ Princess Diana’s 50th Birthday .” Newsweek’s Tina Brown has written a really strange futuristic look at what Diana might have been like at 50: “ Diana at 50 .” For other posts on Diana on this blog, Lisa’s History Room, click here . Share this: Posted in PEOPLE , Prince Charles of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall , Prince William & Catherine, Duke & Duchess of Cambridge , tagged biographies of royalty , biographies of women , British Royal Family/Nobles , fashion , philip treacy hats , pictures of the royal wedding hats , the royal wedding , the royal wedding hats on May 5, 2011 | 4 Comments » In its coverage of the fashion displayed by guests at the British Royal Wedding of William and Catherine, The New York Times wrote that the outfits of the guests “were generally tasteful and royal-friendly. A few things stuck out. The exotic costumes of foreign dignitaries, seeming throwbacks to imperial times.

The hats worn by the ladies, which resembled, variously overturned buckets, flowerpots, lampshades, fezzes, salad plates, tea cozies, flying saucers, abstract artworks or, in one case, a pile of feathers. There were also a number of fascinators, decorative shapes with flowers or feathers, that are stuck in one’s hair but are not hats.” It now appears that 36 of the wild headpieces worn at the royal wedding can be traced to a single eccentric Irish milliner, Philip Treacy, referred to by the UK’s The Daily Mail as the man “responsible for all this fashion roadkill.” In this 1999 photo, milliner Philip Treacy poses with the late hat fancier Isabella Blow Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice arrive at Westminster Abbey for the Royal Wedding in their much-ridiculed hats by Philip Treacy. Beatrice's hat was described in the Daily Mail as "beige pretzel-like" and Eugenie's as a "catastrophic confection...with a rose the color of dried blood." For more pictures of royal wedding hats on this blog, click here. Princess Beatrice wore this Treacy creation to another wedding.

A swarm of butterflies seems to be attacking her head. At another fancy occasion, Princess Eugenie wears a feather headpiece designed by Philip Treacy Victoria Beckham wore one of Philip Treacy's creations to her husband David's O.B.E. ceremony. Note that Mrs. Beckham is showing her teeth, something rarely seen in her photos. David and Victoria Beckham arrive at Westminster Abbey for the royal wedding. Victoria is wearing one of Treacy's hats, perched precariously on the front of her head. Though almost seven months pregnant with their fourth child, she opts for fashion footwear, wearing sky-high Christian Louboutin heels. David proudly wears his O.B.E. - but on the wrong lapel! Once inside the Abbey, you can see that David Beckham has switched his O.B.E. medal from his right lapel to the left one - the correct one. Someone must have mentioned the faux pas and he made the swap. He's chatting up a Beefeater, rather nervously, I think!

While we are on the subject of propriety, let me mention that several people have remarked that Kate Middleton chose to wear a wedding gown with sleeves so that she didn’t bare her arms in the Abbey, which is firmly against the dress code. Royal Wedding: William and Catherine are shown in the Abbey with best man Prince Harry of Wales and maid-of-honor Pippa Middleton. I checked this out and there seems to be no such rule, at least in writing. Here is the dress code recorded on the Abbey website : There is no specific dress code for the Abbey. For services we ask that you dress in a respectful manner, although we are aware that some people are on holiday – bear in mind that during the winter months it can become quite cold inside. Besides, if Abbey rules require covered arms, then how was Pippa Middleton exempt? Newsweek magazine clarified the matter. Royal protocol requires that the arms of a royal bride must be covered. Prince William wore the scarlet coat of an Irish Guards mounted officer, the uniform of his senior honorary army appointment. He wore gold sword slings, but no sword. Although unconfirmed, my sources report that no weapons are allowed in the Abbey.

Back to the mad hatter and more of his crazy, over-the-top designs for The Rich and Famous: American Actress Sarah Jessica Parker wears a Philip Treacy design. Saloon girl? More unpleasant things have been said about this hat like, "What do you get when you cross a small cowpat with a pair of yellow butterflies, a sickly green rose and a clump of brown chicken feathers?" (the Daily Mail) British model Jade Parfit allows another Philip Treacy odd creation to rest on her right ear. You knew it was coming. That's Lady Gaga in the wreath by Treacy with Beyonce. Jodie Kidd wears a Treacy saucer hat with pheasant feather antennae. In this 2005 photo, Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles, newly-minted as the Duchess of Cornwall, are just married. She wears a Philip Treacy "wheatsheaf halo" hat for which Prince Charles later awarded him an honorary O.B.E. Camilla is so chummy with Treacy that she sent Treacy's dog a Christmas card every year until the dog's death. At the dog's funeral, Grace Jones sang and Kate Moss sent flowers.

(the Daily Mail) Readers: Posted in PEOPLE , Prince Charles of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall , Prince William & Catherine, Duke & Duchess of Cambridge , Princess Diana , Queen Elizabeth II , tagged biographies of royalty , British Royal Family/Nobles , Buckingham Palace , Clarence House , Duke and Duchess of Cambridge , Kate Middleton , Kate's wedding dress , London , photos of Princess Diana in the Aston Martin , photos of royal wedding , Prince Charles' Aston Martin , Princess Diana , Queen Elizabeth II , RAF helicopter , royal wedding , William and Kate on April 30, 2011 | 2 Comments » William and Kate drive Prince Charles' Aston Martin through the streets of London on their wedding day, thrilling the crowds. Following a post-nuptials luncheon buffet for 650 guests given by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, Prince William took his new bride Kate out for a spin in his father’s vintage Aston Martin. The crowd in the street was taken by surprise to see the royal couple, the newly-christened Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, appear on the streets so spontaneously, and sent up mighty cheers, applause, and laughter as the 41-year-old blue sportscar rolled by.

William and Kate waved and smiled as they passed the wildly exuberant crowds lining the curbs, waving British flags. On the front of the car was a large red letter “L” which stands for “learners permit” bordered by 4 red hearts. Red, white, and blue ribbons and bows decorated the front bonnet. White bows and colored party balloons -two bearing the initials C and W and others shaped like hearts and stars – fluttered gaily from the rear bumper. The novelty license plate proclaimed JU5T WED. Prince William is distracted from his driving as an RAF helicopter salutes him overhead. Note the special license plate for his wedding day. The royal car is said to have been specially decorated by that fun-loving prankster Prince Harry. Best man Prince Harry waves to the crowd as he makes the journey by carriage procession to Buckingham Palace following the Royal Wedding of his brother, Prince William, to the lovely Miss Catherine Middleton. A Range Rover followed close behind the snazzy convertible. Overhead a yellow Sea King Search and Rescue helicopter with the B Flight 22 Squadron did a flyby to honor the Prince on his wedding day.

Prince William is an RAF Search and Rescue helicopter pilot with the same squadron based in Anglesey, Wales. RAF colleagues of Prince William did a flyby over Buckingham Palace on his wedding day. The couple, who had just that morning exchanged televised wedding vows at Westminster Abbey before a worldwide audience of millions, were on their way up the Mall, 500 yards away, to Clarence House, where they would change their clothes for the night’s festivities. William had already changed clothes once. He had worn a red Irish Guards tunic as he tied the knot but, for the drive down the Mall, had swapped the tunic for an Irish Guards frock coat. In the open auto, Kate still wore the Alexander McQueen wedding dress … Prince William and the former Miss Kate Middleton, now known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, pose joyously for their official wedding pictures in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace. April 29, 2011 “a glorious sweep of ivory and white silk gazar with hand-embroidered English and French Chantilly lace and 58 organza-covered buttons snaking up the back. It had a discreet v-neck, long lace sleeves and a train that measured nearly nine feet long.

Middleton’s slender waistline was emphasized by the gown’s narrow bodice and slight padding at the hips—a nod to Victorian style.” As for that spiffy sportscar…. Queen Elizabeth had given the Seychelles blue Aston Martin Volante DB6 MKII to her son Prince Charles in 1969 as a 21st birthday gift. The Prince of Wales -who is environmentally sensitive – converted it to run on sustainable fuel in 2008. It now uses E85 bioethanol, made from English wine wastage. The car is said to be roughly valued at £350,000 . Below is an old photo of Prince Charles taking his wife at the time, Princess Diana, William’s late mother, for a spin in the same Aston Martin convertible. In this undated photo, Prince Charles and Princess Diana are seen driving away in the Prince's blue Aston Martin. Readers: For more on the British Royal Family and the Royal Wedding, click here . Share this: Posted in Barack and Michelle Obama , Frank Sinatra , Jackie Kennedy , Jimmy Carter , John F. Kennedy , John F. Kennedy, Jr.

, Kennedys, the , PEOPLE , POLITICS & GOV'T , Prince Charles of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall , Queen Elizabeth II , RELIGION , Ronald Reagan (& Nancy) , ROYALTY/NOBILITY , tagged Barack Obama , Bill Clinton , biographies of politicians , Frank Sinatra , George H. Bush , George W. Bush , Gerald Ford , Hillary Clinton , Jackie Kennedy , Jimmy Carter , John F. Kennedy , John McCain , Laura Bush , Lyndon Johnson , Michelle Obama , pictures of Kennedy assassination , pictures of Reagan assassination attempt , Pope John Paul II , Prince Charles , Queen Elizabeth , richard nixon , Ronald Reagan , Sarah Palin , Secret Service agent Clint Hill , the White House , U.S. Presidents , U.S. Secret Service code names on February 9, 2011 | 8 Comments » The U.S. Secret Service provided security for Pope Benedict XVI at the Papal Mass in Washington, D.C., on April 17, 2008.

Although the agents have no official uniform and can be seen wearing anything from tuxedos to blue jeans, they are often identified by their dark sunglasses, listening devices, and lapel pins bearing the agency's gold star logo. The United States Secret Service uses code names to refer to the President of the United States, his family, other officials, and places. Originally, these code names were designed to protect sensitive communications, back in the day before restricted communications were routinely encrypted. Nowadays, there is no need to keep these names secret. Nevertheless, The Secret Service who guards the First Family and other U.S. officials continues to use the code names for clarity, brevity, and tradition. (1) The U.S. Secret Service Star Logo. The U.S. Secret Service protects the President and First Family, other officials of the U.S. government, and visiting dignitaries. General Code Names President of the United States: POTUS First Lady of the United States: FLOTUS Vice President of the United States: VPOTUS The Obamas Luci Baines: Venus A motorcade carries President John F.

Kennedy and First Lady Jackie Kennedy through the streets of Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Texas Governor John Connally and wife Nellie ride in front of the Kennedys. Secret Service agent Clint Hill stood on the running board of the car behind the Kennedy’s limo. Agent Hill heard the first shot that hit President Kennedy. Mr Hill is the figure in the famous Zapruder film of the killing which shows him climbing onto the back of the president’s limousine. “I heard the first shot, saw the president grab his throat, lurch left, and I knew something was wrong,” recalled Hill in the book, The Kennedy Detail. Jackie Kennedy can be seen crawling out the back of the car onto the trunk to get help for her slain husband, slumped in the seat. Agent Hill got in the back seat with Mrs. Kennedy and the president and shielded them with his body on the way to Parkland Hospital.

The Kennedys Posted in PEOPLE , POLITICS & GOV'T , Prince Charles of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall , Princess Diana , ROYALTY/NOBILITY , tagged Billy Joel , biographies of royalty , British Royal Family/Nobles , Buckingham Palace , Covent Garden , John Travolta , pictures of Princess Diana , Prince Charles , Princess Diana , Princess Diana and the Reagans. , Princess Diana at the White House , Princess Diana dances at Covent Garden , Princess Diana dances with John Travolta , Princess Diana dancing , Ronald Reagan and "Princess David" remark , Uptown Girl and Princess Diana , Wayne Sleep on January 11, 2011 | 10 Comments » May 6 1985: Princess Diana, Prince Charles and their sons Harry and William on board royal yacht Britannia in Venice. It’s 1985. Prince Charles and Princess Diana have been married close to five years. He’s 37; she’s 24. They have two young and healthy sons. Charles and Di have everything. They are rich and famous and, by all rights, should be happy. They seem happy in most photos. But they are not.

Their marriage is in trouble but it will be another 11 years before it crashes for good. Princess Diana arrives at the Royal Opera House, London. Dec. 1985 It’s December – Christmastime – and the two of them are out on the town together in London. It’s a special night. They are seated at the Royal Box at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden. It’s a VIP evening for “Friends of Covent Garden,” composed of skits and entertainment for special patrons. Silly things happen at this event – dancers sing, singers dance, and, occasionally, a celebrity might turn up on stage unexpectedly and wow the audience. Just the previous year, matter of fact, Charles and Di had done that very thing. They had performed a skit together – as Romeo and Juliet – and the Prince had sung an ad jingle, “Just One Cornetto.” Back to December 1985. The show is drawing to a close. Imagine Charles’s surprise when, just two numbers before the end of the show, Diana slips from the Royal Box and, minutes later, emerges on stage. She is going to perform!

She wears a slinky white dress and begins dancing seductively to Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl.” Princess Diana and Wayne Sleep dance to Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl" at Covent Garden, December 1985. Uptown Girl She’s been living in her uptown world I bet she’s never had a backstreet guy I bet her mama never told her why Diana – at 5’10” – towers over her dance partner, Wayne Sleep. At 5’2″, Sleep is the shortest dancer ever admitted into the Royal Ballet School. He recalled his pas de deux with the princess that night: The Prince nearly fell out of his chair, especially when [Diana] did the kicks over my head….I was worried she’d fall apart under the spotlight, but she totally carried it off. Not many people could handle being under such scrutiny in front of an insiderly audience on that huge Covent Garden stage. She showed natural star quality.” (1) Everyone – except Charles – is thrilled by Diana’s performance. She receives a standing ovation and eight curtain calls.

At a reception afterwards, Sleep recalled that Charles was aloof, making it embarrassingly clear that he disapproved of Diana’s performance (or was he just plain jealous because he wasn’t asked to participate?). Diana had rehearsed for weeks in secret and was performing just to please Charles. Again, her efforts fall short. Of course, we know now why she couldn’t please him. He didn’t need her. He had Camilla. Where did Diana get the personal courage to perform a seductive dance in front of 2,600 people? Well, thank Nancy Reagan for giving Di the opportunity to shine at something she was good at. Just a month before, Diana had danced with John Travolta (at Nancy’s request) at a gala White House dinner given by the Reagans, dazzling Washington and the world with her youthful beauty, dancing grace, and sex appeal. John Travolta and Princess Diana dance in the East Room of the White House, November 1986. Standing up to welcome Prince Charles and Princess Diana, President Reagan, in after-dinner remarks, flubbed the princess's name.

Standing up in welcome, the president offered a toast to Prince Charles and "his lovely lady, Princess David." By the time she returned to London, everyone was abuzz with Diana’s splashy American visit: The Princess of Wales had become a walking monument – British opinion polls said she was the country’s greatest tourist attraction….One national survey calculated that from 1983-1985, she had generated $66.6 million in revenue from magazines, books, and tourists.” (2) “Shy Di looking up through the eyelashes” had gone off to America but Confident Di had returned in her place. She made Buckingham Palace nervous – and with good reason. It could no longer control her. (1) Brown, Tina. The Diana Chronicles. New York: Doubleday, 2007. (2) Kelley, Kitty. The Royals. New York: Warner Books, Inc., 1997. Readers: For more on Princess Diana and the British Royal Family, click here . Share this:

Question: Who did the late Princess Diana famously dance with on stage at the Royal Opera House in London in 1985?
Answer: Wayne Sleep