Elton’s gobsmacking royal tale

Queen Elizabeth once repeatedly slapped her nephew across the face when he appeared to ignore her instructions, according to the singer Sir Elton John, who says he witnessed the exchange.

The British monarch had asked Viscount Linley, the son of her sister Princess Margaret, to look in on his sister, Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones, who had taken ill at a party and retired to her room to rest. Linley demurred.

In his memoir, Me, John writes: ‘‘When he [Linley] repeatedly tried to fob her off, the Queen lightly slapped him across the face, saying ‘Don’t’ – slap – ‘argue’ – slap – ‘with’ – slap – ‘me’ – slap – ‘I’ – slap – ‘am’ – slap – ‘THE QUEEN!’’’

Linley, now 57, promptly did as he was told.

John, 72, claims that the Queen saw that he had seen this conversation, gave him a wink and walked off. ‘‘I know the Queen’s public image isn’t exactly one of wild frivolity, but ... in private she could be hilarious,’’ he writes.

John’s memoir spills the secrets of his many friendships with both Hollywood royalty and true royalty, including revealing that Princess Alexandra, the Queen’s cousin, asked him if he had snorted cocaine before going on stage.

But it is his close relationship with Princess Diana that has always attracted the most attention.

John said that Princess Diana was ‘‘blessed with an incredible social ease, an ability to make people feel totally comfortable in her company’’ that her children have inherited.

The pair met at a party in 1981, with John writing that they ‘‘immediately clicked’’ and ‘‘ended up pretending to dance the Charleston while hooting at the disco’s feebleness’’ that same night.

‘‘She was fabulous company ... a real gossip: you could ask her anything and she’d tell you,’’ he writes. ‘‘But if I was bowled over by Diana, it was nothing compared with the impact she could have on straight men ... They were just utterly bewitched.’’

John and his partner, now husband, David Furnish once invited Diana and the actors Richard Gere and Sylvester Stallone to dinner, not long after she had separated from Prince Charles.

‘‘Straight away, Richard Gere and Diana seemed very taken with each other,’’ he recalls. ‘‘Judging by the kind of looks he kept shooting them, Diana and Richard Gere’s new blossoming friendship was not going down well with Sylvester Stallone ... I think he may have turned up to the party with the express intention of picking Diana up.’’

Gere and Stallone were later found squaring up to each other over Diana in the corridor, but were successfully pacified.

In his memoir, John also reveals the truth about the photo at the 1997 funeral of the fashion designer Gianni Versace in which Diana appears to be comforting him.

‘‘She was leaning just past me, reaching for a mint that David [Furnish] had offered her,’’ he writes. ‘‘The warm words of comfort ... were actually: ‘God, I’d love a Polo’.’’ – Sunday Times

‘‘She was fabulous company ... a real gossip: you could ask her anything and she’d tell you’

Elton John