Princess Diana Got ‘Pure Joy From Dancing’: Inside Her Private Dance Lessons Throughout Her Life

When dance instructor and choreographer Anne Allan received a call from Kensington Palace, she thought someone might be playing a joke on her. “They said, ‘The princess would like to take dance lessons,’” she confides to Closer. “There’s a minute of disbelief that this was actually real.”

In her new memoir, Dancing With Diana, Anne, a former instructor at the English National Ballet, shares the story of her warm relationship with Diana Spencer, who became her pupil in 1981, the year she married into the royal family. “We found that we could be terribly honest with each other,” says Anne. “I think that is what she liked most. No one was standing on ceremony. We could just have a conversation.”

In person, Diana was even more beautiful than she photographed. “Her eyes were just a stunning blue,” recalls Anne, who adds that the princess also had a natural charisma. “At first, she was just incredibly shy and embarrassed, but you could feel there was also a natural warmth to her. Her kindness had a genuine quality. A magic.”

Inside Princess Diana’s Private Dance Lessons

The women met for weekly private dance classes for almost a decade. Diana, who had taken ballet in her youth, was an excellent student. “She worked very hard at technique, and she worked very hard at giving herself strength,” says Anne. “But the biggest joy to me was just watching when she felt comfortable enough to just move by herself. You could see the pure joy that she got from dancing.”

Diana became pregnant with William not long after Anne had her own baby, giving the women more to bond over. Eventually, Diana began to talk about the difficulties in her marriage to Prince Charles. “She loved him deeply, and she really wanted the marriage to work,” says Anne. “I really think she tried as much as she could to make it work.”

That included confronting Camilla Parker-Bowles, Charles’ mistress, at a party in the 1980s. “Diana knew what was being said,” explains Anne. “The confrontation — where she asked Camilla to allow her marriage a chance — was a very big step in Diana moving forward.”

Diana endured other struggles, including bulimia. For a long time, Anne noticed the princess was getting thinner but didn’t suspect an eating disorder. “I just thought she was under a great deal of pressure,” she explains. “She found it incredibly hard to tell me because she was very ashamed. But I think that the first step for anybody healing from something like bulimia is self-awareness.”

Over time, Anne witnessed the positive changes in Diana that took her from insecure young princess to an international philanthropist at home in the spotlight. “I saw her change physically,” she says. “She began to hold her head higher. Her shoulders relaxed. She had a different poise and confidence.”

Anne received a call from the palace canceling her lessons with Diana in 1989. She believes it was the royals’ attempt to stop the gossip about Diana and Charles’ unhappy union. “I was a bit indignant. I would never say what was privately going on,” says Anne.

Diana’s death 27 years ago left her shaken, but Anne continues to keep the woman she knew alive in her heart. “The moment she stepped offstage after doing her debut performance — it was thrilling,” recalls Anne. “She was just overwhelmed that she had fulfilled a childhood dream.”