WAYNE Sleep has revealed why Princess Diana refused to bow to Prince Charles after their iconic dance together.
The pair famously danced in 1985 at the Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden as part of an event to raise money for charity.
In a new interview Wayne, 73, said Diana picked the music for the performance – Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl”.
The pair rehearsed for weeks, but he was left shocked at the end of the performance.
Speaking about what happened to GB News, Wayne said: “I said to Diana ‘you’ve got to bow to the Royal Box’. She just looked at me and said: “Wayne, I won’t be bowing, he’s my husband!”
Wayne had known the Princess since the early 1980s, when she approached him for dance lessons.
He couldn’t teach her because he was always on tour as a professional dancer, but she later came to him again to propose their big gig.
Revealing new details about his friendship with Princess Diana he recalled: “The first time I met her she was in the dance studio and she was in pink tights, leg warmers, jazz shoes, headband and wristbands, very 80s and she came to me and I looked at her and realised how beautiful she was.
“My first thought was, she’s too tall to dance with me, I’ll be a laughing stock. I’m 5ft 2in and she’s 5ft 11in.
“I never expected the dance to become so talked about. People still ask me about it today.
“We became friends and stayed in touch for more than 10 years. I’d cook her lunch and give her chocolates to take home for the boys.
Towards the end she had become a little unsure of who she could trust and was even questioning me a little bit. But it was hard to know who she could trust.”
Wayne – who is regarded as one of Britain’s greatest ever male dancers – also urged boys who were bullied for performing to rise above it.
“I had it,” he said. “But I would say to anyone in that position, ‘you can get over that stuff. Just laugh it off, rise above it. Don’t listen to people. I changed the negative to positive.”
Wayne, who is openly gay and become a campaigner for gay rights, also opened up about his sexuality: ” As a young man I didn’t want to be gay. You had to do things behind closed doors.
But then we changed the law. It’s joyous that people now have a voice now.”
