Diana’s touch beat the stigma of Aids, says grateful Elton
SIR ELTON John yesterday paid a moving tribute to Princess Diana for her ground-breaking handshake with an Aids patient more than 30 years ago.
The 71-year-old singer began a lecture on HIV by drawing attention to her humanity.
Speaking to an audience of politicians and celebrities at the French Institute in central London, Sir Elton said: “It is especially moving for me to deliver this lecture in honour of my friend Diana, Princess of Wales. I want to pay tribute to her great qualities.
“Diana acted at a time when HIV was a death sentence.
“One simple handshake, one gesture showed the world the need for humanity for those living with HIV/Aids.”
It was in 1987 that Diana shook hands with a patient at Britain’s first Aids unit, at London’s Middlesex Hospital, disproving the notion that the virus could be passed by touch. At a time when Aids was surrounded by stigma, she went on to comfort other patients in Canada and around the world.
Sir Elton added: “It was considered to be a gay disease and for someone who was within the Royal Family and who was a woman, and who was straight, to have someone care from the other side, was an incredible gift.
“She had that incredible ability, which Prince Harry has inherited, to make people feel at ease and make them feel that everything’s going to be all right.
“I haven’t experienced many people in my life who have that ability but she could walk into a room of people and make them feel as if everything was great.”
Introduced by his husband David Furnish, Sir Elton called on social media giants to help to tackle homophobia.
“Companies like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have a public role and a public responsibility,” he said. “Pressure needs to be applied.”