Princess Diana's former dance teacher has revealed details about her secret nine-year dance lessons, describing her as "so raw" yet passionate about dancing.
The insightful new book Dancing With Diana: A Memoir, authored by Anne Allan, who instructed Diana in hundreds of private dance sessions, will be released on September 10.
According to PEOPLE excerpts from the book, the two emphasised their close friendship and how spending time together allowed Diana to talk about her most private problem.
Allan shared, “She loved to dance. The minute she started to move her arms, you could see the feeling that it brought her.”
She added, "She was able to be herself. She loved to move and loved to have fun."
(Allan also recalled Diana's reaction to her dance with John Travolta in 1985 as being "gobsmacked,” "It was absolutely adorable,” she remarked.
Recalling that her company was a safe space for her, Allan shared, “If something was on her mind, she would say so.”
She mentioned, “Later on there were days where she would come in and just talk a little bit.”
Allan also found out Camilla's name (then Parker Bowles, now Queen Camilla) during these sessions when she first heard about Charles' affection for an "older woman."
Diana also discussed the then-future King's icy reaction when in 1985, Diana and her friend Wayne Sleep, a renowned British dancer, stunned Chalres by dancing Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl" at a charity event on a London stage.
Allan admitted she was “a bit helpless” as Diana confided in her.
“I was thinking, what can I do? But I also knew that wasn’t my place. It’s not just a friend who’s going through something—there was much more at stake for her. And she truly loved Charles," she said.
