British dancer Wayne Sleep OBE appeared on Loose Women on Monday, July 3 to discuss his dancing career and upcoming birthday and during his interview on the ITV1 programme he recalled a personal letter Princess Diana had written to him following their iconic surprise performance in 1985 at the Royal Opera House.
After giving his thoughts on whether the late Princess of Wales would have enjoyed the Netflix series The Crown, the 74-year-old, whose birthday it is later this month, relayed the story behind the letter and her sentiment. He told the panellists - Christine Lampard, Linda Robson, Denise Welch and Brenda Edwards: "On the night we performed at Covent Garden, she sent me a letter and said I can't sleep until I send you a message to say thanks. But what she said at the end was 'Now I understand the buzz you get from performing live to an audience of 3,000'.
"And I realised that, even though she'd done her exams and ballet lessons, she'd never performed it. And she got her moment. And we beat the media, they never found out [before it happened]. Else we wouldn't have been able to do it at all!" For more showbiz and television stories get our newsletter here.
Read more: Jonnie Irwin fans describe him as 'amazing' after latest update
Earlier in the interview, Wayne - who also told the story of how he got his big break in dancing after receiving the Leverhulme Scholarship to The Royal Ballet school - gave his thoughts on what he thinks Diana's opinion of the hit drama series depicting the life of the Royal Family would have been had she been alive today.
Thinking about it, the choreographer - who danced with the late princess to Billy Joel's Uptown Girl over 30 years ago after she, as a fan of his, reached out and said she wanted to dance with him - said: "Well, I think she would have enjoyed the fact that I think she was probably better.
"No, I'll tell you something. The Crown did it very very well for what it was. They didn't have a very big stage. It was very small. And with all the information they had, I think they did really, very well. There were just a few things that weren't quite the same. We did more of a stylish movement rather than a hip pop. But that's how it is today."
Referencing how in the past Princess Diana credited their bond because the pair were both "loners", Denise Welch said how surprising that must have been for fans, particularly as Wayne was in the showbiz industry and Diana the Royal Family.
Wayne responded: "I don't think she felt she fitted in quite. And I didn't really because of my height [the ballet star is 5'2"] and then I got leave of absence and I was away for more than I was back with the ballet..." Interrupting his train of thought, the 74-year-old added that he has a book coming out next spring in which his dance adventures - including the one with Diana - would be discovered.
Loose Women airs weekdays at 12.30pm on ITV1.
