Diana and Sir Elton weren’t close, claims Wayne Sleep
SIR ELTON JOHN became synonymous with Princess Diana and the mass outpouring of grief over her death when he performed Candle In The Wind at her funeral 20 years ago.
But now her friend, ex-Royal Ballet star Wayne Sleep, has stepped in to claim the superstar was, in fact, never that close to her.
‘he didn’t actually know her that well. When Diana died, I didn’t know just how close I was to her because I thought she had a lot of other friends who were more familiar with her, but it seems not,’ says Sleep, 68, who famously danced with Diana to Uptown Girl at the Royal Opera house in 1985 as a treat for Prince Charles’s birthday. ‘She was a bit of a loner, which was sad.’
The timing of his claim is especially poignant in the run-up to the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death this year, with which Sleep will be involved, as he was with the tenth.
‘I was invited to the tenth anniversary and there were only five personalities there: myself, Elton John, and a couple of others,’ he adds. ‘We felt really like we were close to her. Elton might be invited again this time, but I don’t know.
‘William and harry have given permission for me to speak, so I’m only doing it with people they have asked me to do it with.’
A spokesman for Elton has declined to comment, but the 70-year-old singer has previously admitted Diana was ‘airy-fairy’ with him — and others — towards the end of her life. They also fell out shortly before the shooting of Gianni Versace in 1997 over the designer’s book Rock And Royalty.
Diana blamed Elton for placing a photograph of her and her sons in the book alongside semi-nude male models, which Diana feared would upset the Queen. Though they appeared to make up later that year, as Diana consoled the singer at Versace’s memorial service, Elton has since said: ‘Diana trusted the wrong people. I always thought the people that really felt for her and really were true to her she just was a bit airyfairy towards in the end.’
It seems, however, her friendship with Sleep stood the test of time. ‘I knew her in a different way to a lot of people,’ adds Sleep. ‘Once you’ve danced with somebody, you have an affinity with them like no other.’