Sir Elton John had a close bond with the late Diana, Princess of Wales and even sang at her funeral but before her death, the close friends stopped speaking for a while
Princess Diana bridged the status of royalty with celebrity and befriended dozens of famous faces. One of those was none other than Sir Elton John who has remained close to her two children, Prince William and Prince Harry. The singer and King Charles ‘ ex-wife first met when he was performing at Windsor for Prince Andrew’s 21st birthday in 1981.
But while they struck up a close bond – their friendship once soured with the pair refusing to speak to one another for a period of time. Just one year later, the Princess of Wales died aged just 36 after sustaining fatal injuries following a car crash in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris.
At the time of the fatal crash, Diana’s chauffeur was being chased by paparazzi. The Princess was taken to hospital at around 2am and was sadly pronounced dead just two hours later. Her death resulted in grief pouring in from across the world, with the then Prince Charles and her two sisters, Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Jane Fellowes, Baroness Fellowes, heading to Paris to bring Diana’s body back to the UK.
Despite Diana no longer being a member of the Royal Family, she was given a state funeral which incorporated aspects of her life as a celebrity figure, with Sir Elton John performing Candle In The Wind during the ceremony. But just one year before her death – the pair stopped speaking after Diana pulled out of a charity project they were both involved in.
Speaking on CNN’s Larry King Live, Sir Elton previously said: “It was one of her charity things that I’d organised, and she pulled out of it. And I wasn’t too happy, and I let her know that.”
Sir Elton has stated in the past that he believed Buckingham Palace may have been involved in the disagreement. Diana was meant to be writing the forward for Rock And Royalty, a collection of photographs published to raise cash for the AIDS Foundation. Elton wrote in his autobiography: “Then she got cold feet. 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 late Princess sent the legendary rocker a “terse letter,” which resulted in the souring of their bond. He said: “”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.” She wrote back, but the reply was very formal and “several” – starting ‘Dear Mr John.'”
Neither of the pair reached out to the other as they were “too proud”. But the death of a mutual friend brought them together. Sir Elton and Diana had been friends with iconic fashion designer Gianni Versace and were left devastated when he was assassinated outside of his Miami Beach home in July 1997.
She called Sir Elton at his holiday home in Nice, apologising for their fall out – saying “I’m so sorry. It was a silly falling-out. Let’s be friends.” Diana and Versace hit it off after she modelled one of his famous dresses for a Harper’s Bazaar cover story.
Her former bodyguard Lee Sansum previously said of Diana hearing about the news: “When she turned, we were face to face and she was only about a foot away from me. Diana was in tears and looked very distressed.”
He recounted that she asked: “You’ve heard about my friend Versace?” before she allegedly asked for his professional outlook on the murder. He said: “It was clear she was asking me about my professional view on the killing. ‘I don’t know,’ I admitted but I echoed the thoughts of all of the security team that morning: ‘It does sound like it might have been a professional job.’ Then she said something that always stayed with me.”
He claimed the Princess asked: “‘Do you think they’ll do that to me?’ She was shaking.” Both Diana and Sir Elton attended Gianni’s funeral in Milan on July 22, alongside dozens of famous faces. Diana and Sir Elton rekindled their friendship as they united in grief and remained friends until her death just weeks later on August 31, 1997.
His song, Candle In The Wind, was originally written about Hollywood pin-up Marilyn Monroe but he made changes to the lyrics in memory of his friend. Speaking about the night he and the Princess met, Sir Elton said: “She made you completely feel at ease. There wasn’t a stiffness or an awkwardness, which there can be sometimes with other members of the royal family, because you’re so aware of protocol.”
Since Diana’s death, Sir Elton has remained a key figure in the lives of Princes William and Harry. Since Harry and his wife Meghan Markle announced in January 2020 their plans to step down as senior working royals, Sir Elton has remained “very protective” of the couple. Meanwhile, Harry previously said of their bond: “Thank you for being the friend that you were to my mum. Thank you for being our friend, thank you for being a friend to our kids… we love you.”
While Elton has said: “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.”
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