Princess Diana Once Unleashed Her Inner Ballerina With a Surprise Dance Performance to 'Uptown Girl'

Princess Diana, as a child, harbored an ardent desire to become a successful ballerina but was unable to follow her dream because of her height. However, years later, she partially fulfilled her passion and delivered a surprise performance at the Royal Opera House, in December 1985. She and Prince Charles were attending a Christmas gala event at the venue when the Princess of Wales subtly excused herself from the Royal Box halfway through the concert. To everyone's surprise, she appeared on stage moments later with dancer, Wayne Sleep, and danced to Uptown Girl by Billy Joel. "There was a gasp from the audience, of 2,500 people, who took an intake of breath all at the same time. They were speechless," Sleep recalled years later. 

"It was all top secret," Sleep explained to The Guardian in a 2017 interview. "We met in a rehearsal studio in west London," he recounted. "She was in leg warmers and a leotard. My first thought was, she’s too tall to dance with me, I’ll be a laughing stock. I’m 5ft 2in and she’s 5ft 11in. But I soon realized she had a good sense of humor, and that we could have some fun with our height difference. She’d already decided on the music." Sleep reportedly enhanced their performance by adding 'jazz, ballet, even a kick line,' and Diana loved the creativity. "Now I understand the buzz you get from performing," she said. 

In a 2020 interview with Vulture, Sleep explained the Princess of Wales' obsession with the particular song. "There was a music video that went with the song and she must've seen the video. There's a lovely lady with a hat—she's very chic and gets out of the car. Diana knew she could play that role of sophistication." Sleep also shared how Diana had kept the whole thing a secret, even from her husband, Prince Charles. "I remember thinking, 'Don’t drop the future Queen of England', She loved it but was most thrilled we’d kept it secret from Charles, and our rehearsals away from the paparazzi." 

As per Vanity Fair, Charles was not thrilled about the impromptu public performance. Diana's biographer, Tina Brown, wrote, "It was embarrassingly clear that he had not been ravished by the spectacle of his wife en pointe. His disappointing response, when it leaked, was interpreted as frigid disapproval of Diana's lapse in royal etiquette." Sleep weighed in on the same and stated, "He had a raised eyebrow, you might say. It didn't go any further than that at the party," alluding there may have been more disapproval behind closed doors.  

As per Oprah Daily, Lady Collin Campbell, in her book The Real Diana, claimed that at the age of 17, though she was never going to be a ballerina, Princess Diana nonetheless contacted the Vacani Dance School to pursue a dance course. "She went skiing and never came back. I think that she felt that the training—three years and until 6:30 in the evening—would be too all-embracing. She never gave a reason for not returning," Madam Vacani told Campbell. Diana attended the lessons for only a month. She later held the position of Patron for the English National Ballet from 1989 until her tragic passing in 1997.