Princess Diana uptown girl

Turns out Princess Diana really did dance to Uptown Girl on stage

However The Crown did make some changes to the performance


In the penultimate episode of season four of The Crown, Princess Diana dances on stage to Uptown Girl for Charles’ birthday and turns out it 100 per cent happened in real life.

In the opening scene of the episode we see her get on the stage at the Royal Opera House and perform a routine with ballet dancer Wayne Sleep.

The dance took place in 1985 at the annual Friends of Covent Garden show, which usually features an appearance from a celebrity guest and that time it was everyone’s favourite royal, Princess Diana.

This is everything we know about her iconic Uptown Girl performance:

So Princess Diana actually danced to Uptown Girl?

Yes she really got on that stage and danced with Wayne Sleep. In his column for The Guardian Wayne said the performance was a surprise for Prince Charles. He said Diana had already chosen the music for the dance – Uptown Girl by Billy Joel.

via Netflix

Just like in The Crown Princess Diana sat in the royal box before making her way down to backstage. Wayne went on stage first and then Diana appeared. They did a combination of jazz, ballet and kick lines.

Sadly there is no recording of the dance, so we’ll just have to take Wayne’s word on this one.

Did The Crown make any changes to the performance?

Wayne revealed a slight difference in how the performance was shown on The Crown. In The Crown when Diana first appears on the stage she is met with applause, however Wayne said the audience had a sharp intake of breath when she appeared.

He said: “She walked out for eight counts…and then stopped, looked at the audience beautifully, and 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, and she was on fire.”

It’s also not clear if her performance was actually for Prince Charles’ birthday as in real life the dance occurred a month after his birthday.

What has her dance partner Wayne Sleep said about it?

Wayne has said many positive and kind words about Princess Diana in subsequent interviews about their performance. He said they first met to rehearse after he’d had a late night out and Diana was wearing a headband, tights, a pink leotard and jazz shoes.

He said he told Princess Diana he didn’t think the dance would work because of their height difference. Princess Diana was 5″10, whereas Wayne is 5″2.

In an interview with The Telegraph he said: “I don’t think this will work, Ma’am. You are so much taller.” Wayne said she had a sense of humour and was a very good dancer.

He has previously spoken out about the friendship they formed after the performance. Princess Diana would reportedly go over to his house for dinner and they would “have a giggle”.

And did Charles really react the way he does in The Crown?

In The Crown Charles appears quite annoyed with her performance and definitely not responding as perhaps Diana would have wanted. And apparently he had a very similar vibe in real life.

According to Tina Brown, who wrote Princess Diana’s biography, Charles was distant when Diana and Wayne met him in the small reception afterwards.

His reaction was interpreted as “frigid disapproval of Diana’s lapse in royal etiquette”. Tina Brown also said Wayne Sleep told her Charles’ reaction was due to feeling left out. The previous year Charles and Diana performed at the same show, and he was thought to be offended.

However royal commentator Richard Kay said Charles’ annoyance came from thinking Diana was showing off.

The Crown season four is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

Featured image credit: Netflix

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