Bryan Adams says ‘Diana’ song lyrics helped spark “surreal” friendship with royal

Bryan Adams has shared how his song ‘Diana’ helped foster a “surreal” friendship with the princess herself.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Adams said that he met the princess on a plane, where he told her that he wrote ‘Diana’ about her. The Canadian rocker released the song in 1985 as the B-side to his hit ‘Heaven’, and wrote the song about the royal’s marriage to Prince Charles.

The princess reportedly responded: “Yes, I know, very funny. Actually I’d like to hear it again.”

After Adams sent a copy of the song to Kensington Palace, Diana invited the musician for some tea. “When I first went round to KP (Kensington Palace) she wasn’t, like ‘I really need to talk to somebody’, and you don’t bulldoze into someone’s life wanting to know everything in the first 10 minutes,” he said.

“It was ‘let’s have a cup of tea’. But later the more friendly we got the more I learnt what was really going on.”

Adams said he continued to have “a lot of really, really good conversations” with the late princess as they became friends. “In fact it’s strange and surreal to think about,” he said. “I really, really liked Diana, she was an amazing woman and a super-great inspiration.”

“Meeting her was truly one of the greatest things that ever happened to me.”

In the interview, Adams also claimed the lyrics to ‘Diana’ were simply “laddish humour” saying he was inspired by “that guy who [had] broken into the Queen’s bedroom and sat on her bed smoking a fag”.

The musician was referencing an incident in 1982, during which Queen Elizabeth II woke up to find a painter called Michael Fagan having broken into her room.

In other news, Adams is due to arrive in the UK for a 2024 tour, with a three-night residency at the Royal Albert Hall. See below for a full list of dates and get remaining tickets here.

Bryan Adams’ 2024 UK and Ireland tour dates are:

MAY

13 – London, Royal Albert Hall

14 – London, Royal Albert Hall

15 – London Royal Albert Hall

17 – Coventry Building Society Arena

18 – Sheffield, Utilita Arena

19 – Cardiff, Utilita Arena Cardiff

21 – Dublin, 3Arena

22 – Belfast, SSE Arena Belfast

JUNE

13 – Margate, Dreamland

14 – Plymouth, Plymouth Hoe

16 – Northwich, Delamere Forest

18 – Llangollen, International Music Eisteddfod

20 – Brandon, Thetford Forest

21 – Pickering, Dalby Forest

23 – Halifax, Piece Hall