Princess Diana Confided In Her Dance Teacher, Who Is Publishing a Memoir

Companionship can sometimes be found in surprising places, and according to a new memoir penned by Anne Allan, who gave the late Princess Diana dance lessons for about nine years, the Princess of Wales shared some of her most personal truths in the dance studio.

In excerpts from Allan’s book, Dancing With Diana: A Memoir, published in People Wednesday, the dancer recalls Diana confiding in her about trouble in her marriage to Prince Charles, her struggles with bulimia, the happy news of her pregnancies, and more. The book is due to hit shelves on September 10.

According to Allan, she was contacted by Diana’s team about private lessons just weeks after the 20-year-old Diana’s 1981 wedding to Charles. Allan was part of the London City Ballet, and Diana wanted to learn to dance. The lessons seem to have paid off, if Diana’s memorable 1985 spin about the dance floor with John Travolta is anything to go by.

When they first met, Allan said, Diana insisted that Allan call her by her first name, saying, “How lovely to meet you, Anne, and goodness knows what you must think about all this.” Allan remembered Diana “laughing and blushing profusely.” After changing into her dance clothes, the princess “was obviously uncomfortable.”

Just weeks later, Allan writes, the princess was comfortable enough to share some happy personal news: “‘Anne, I wanted to tell you that a little one is on the way. I’m pregnant!’” Allan recalled Diana telling her at the end of a lesson. “I spontaneously threw my arms around her in congratulations. Maybe not appropriate, but an instinctive action on my part, as it is for many women. She beamed back at me, and we shared a joyous moment, just two ladies together.” Prince William was born in June 1982, and Diana returned to lessons by that September. “I was thrilled for Diana that it was a boy and, as she told me later, she had done her duty and produced an heir.”

Allan shared in Diana’s joy after Prince Harry’s birth as well, recalling the princess talking about the very first meeting between the brothers, who are currently estranged.

“She said William was wonderful with his little brother and she loved watching them together,” Allan writes, remembering that Diana said, “Everyone seems very happy that we now have the heir and the spare! Harry’s red hair was a lovely surprise as I know he’s a Spencer as well as a Windsor…My daddy is thrilled, but I’m not too sure what Charles thinks about that.”

Diana also divulged more painful feelings in the studio, including strain in her marriage, and her suspicions that Charles was having an affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles, who would, of course, eventually become his second wife. One day, Allan writes, Diana was moved to tears while they spoke during a lesson, ending up on the floor in a heap of emotion.

“I could feel the hurt, a helplessness within her,” Allan writes. “She was very accepting of my comfort, in between saying, ‘You must think me awful.’ I didn’t. . . . Slowly, after a few more minutes of gentle sobbing, she said, ‘I just can’t seem to do anything right when it comes to my husband. I do love him so much and want him to be proud of me, but I don’t think he feels the same way.’ I just let her talk, not offering advice, but just listening. She continued, ‘I don’t understand why I am not enough for him; I think he prefers an older woman.’”

During this 1986 conversation, Diana spoke specifically about Camilla by name. Allan writes that Diana said, “I know he is seeing Camilla again. Am I expected to accept that, like the other Princesses of Wales before, one just turns a blind eye to husbands having a mistress! Why does he not love me? I really don’t understand. I have tried everything, tried to conform to his wishes even though I don’t always agree. There’s no affection between us, and I am always on my own. I just want to be loved. I can’t keep going on like this. They are really expecting me to just say nothing and keep going. How do I do that?”

The conversations about her marriage continued, with Allan recalling a later discussion.

“Diana wanted Charles to be with her and to love her,” she writes. “Even though she was in her own romantic affair, at this point, Charles was still the man she desired and that was why it was so agonizing for her. ‘Keeping my family together is the most important thing to me,’ she said, still crying.”

In 1989, Allan moved to Scotland and the dance lessons ended. The two lost touch over time, and Allan learned of Diana’s 1997 death with the rest of the world. She writes of watching the funeral on television, and later remembering her friend in her own way.

“I held my own private vigil at home, surrounding myself with candles, flowers, and Diana’s dance photos and letters,” she writes. “All I could do was remember and cherish the time we had together. It helped to fill the emptiness I was feeling.”