The Canadian singer Bryan Adams (64) and the British Princess Diana (1961-1997) are known to have had a good friendship. In a new interview, he enthuses that meeting her was “one of the greatest things” that happened to him in his life.
“I really, really liked Diana, she was a great woman and a huge inspiration,” the “Straight from the Heart” singer gushed in the Sunday Times. For the Queen of Hearts, who died far too early, he only finds words “straight from the heart” and is full of praise: “We had really, really good conversations, I have to say that. In fact, it’s strange and surreal to think about it.”
Adams also tells in the interview how he met the icon: He was introduced to the princess on a plane after co-writing and releasing the song “Diana” – which many believed was from the princess’s wedding to Charles (75) in 1981. “I said, ‘I used your name in a song once,’ and Diana said, ‘Yeah, I know, very funny.’ “I would actually like to hear it again,” he recalled of the first encounter. And continued: “So I sent a copy to Kensington Palace, got an invitation back for tea and that’s how we became friends.”
Their friendship grew over time. “When I first came to Kensington Palace, she didn’t say, ‘I really need to talk to someone,’ and you don’t rush into someone’s life and want to know everything in the first ten minutes,” he said. “It was, ‘Let’s have a cup of tea.’ But the friendlier we became later, the more I learned what was really going on.”
Adams said the lyrics to “Diana” were “young humor” and noted that the original inspiration for the song came from “the guy who had broken into the Queen’s bedroom and was sitting on her bed smoking.” The song’s lyrics were about a woman named Diana, whom Adams called the “queen of all my dreams.” In the song, he professed his love for the woman and suggested that her husband – who is never named – was not good enough for her while begging her to leave him. However, he now noted that he “withdrew the song after Diana died out of respect for her and her boys.” Asked if he tried to save Princess Diana from her fate, he replied: “Maybe, a little.” He then emphasized, “Meeting you was truly one of the greatest things that ever happened to me.”
Due to the lyrics of the song and their close friendship, there was even speculation about a romantic relationship between the two. However, Bryan Adams vehemently rejected these rumors in 2018. In an interview with the American presenter Andy Cohen (55), he asserted: “We were just… we were good friends.”
