1988 Princess Diana

Bad Tour, Wembley London, July 16, 1988


Prince Charles & Princess Diana attend the third Wembley concert. Michael meets the Royal couple backstage to present them with a £150 000 cheque to the Prince’s Trust and another £100 000 cheque to the Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital.

Spokesman Review 18th July 1988


At London’s Wembley Stadium last weekend, Michael Jackson sang “Dirty Diana” a song about a nasty groupie.

Princess Diana, meanwhile, took no offense. She even smiled.

Jackson had been expected to leave the song out because of the princess’ presence, but an aide said the singer “felt the fans would feel let down.”

“I was so excited at meeting the royal couple,” Jackson said. “I am very, very happy that they have come to watch me perform. I thought the princess was just wonderful.”

Prince Charles, always the quipster, asked Jackson how he learned to dance so well, and joked, “Could you teach me to dance?”

Jul 18, 1988


Princess Diana met her favorite pop star Saturday, and after their meeting before his third sold-out performance at Wembley Stadium, Michael Jackson pronounced her “just wonderful.”

Minutes before he was due on stage, Jackson met the met Prince and Princess of Wales in the stadium’s banquet hall. With concert sponsor Pepsi, Jackson handed over $450000 to the Prince’s Trust, a charity for disadvantaged children, and spoke with the royal couple for a few minutes.

“How did you learn to dance so well?” asked Charles. “Could you teach me to dance?”

Jackson presented Diana with two Bad tour jackets for her child princes, William , 6, and Harry, 3, and asked why they weren’t at the concert. In his familiar silver-studded black jacket and trousers, Jackson later said, “I was so excited at meeting the royal couple.I’m very, very happy that they came to watch me perform.”

Diana, wearing a bright golden yellow silk dress with box shoulders, said “Michael’s my favorite pop star, but I’m not so sure about my husband.”

Inside the stadium, the crowd cheered and whistled as the royal couple appeared. Jackson began the performance by saying. “I’d like to welcome our royal guests,” then shouted, “How’re ya doin’” as he looked over to their box.

Diana seemed to be in heaven as she clapped and swayed to Thriller, Billie Jean and Bad, but Dirty Diana – now topping the British – now topping the British charts – was the song that excited her most and she jumped up and down to the rhythm. Charles, however, shifted uneasily in his seat during the song.

SPECIAL: PRINCESS DIANA, 1961-1997


The couple’s July 16 turnout to see Michael Jackson at Wembley Stadium gives some credence to that view. The two laughed and smiled throughout the concert, and Diana was even spotted whispering in Charles’s ear during Jackson’s rendition of Dirty Diana. At one point the prince actually got to his feet and swayed to the beat — a remarkable feat for a known rock dud.

From his stay in Rehab in the UK, November, 1993


Jackson is actually a bright and intelligent person. He is very interested in our Royal family and he asked me lots of questions about them and said how much he likes Princess Diana.

1994


“We were very close, especially over the phone. I was married then to Lisa-Marie. Diana used to call me and wake me up in the middle of the night-it would be maybe three in the morning in Los Angeles when she rang.”

“She talked mostly about her children and about the press. Lisa-Marie used to get so jealous she would go into the another room, pick up the receiver and listen in. I used to say: ‘Diana, these phone calls in the middle of the night… you are ruining my marriage!’”

Diana visiting patients in hospital, Diana: The Portrait, 1995


After the initial visit, Diana came to see Danielle often. “She’d bring me flowers and sometimes she lent me videos to make my stay less boring. She lent me Annie, which she said was hers and The Mask and a Michael Jackson video that belonged to Harry and William.”

Reading Eagle, September 1st, 1997


Pop Superstar Michael Jackson will pay a special tribute to Princess Diana today at a concert in the Belgian coastal resort of Ostend, the concert promoters said.

Jackson, an acquaintance of the princess, called off the original show on Sunday after he learned Diana and her companion Dodi Al Fayed had been killed in a high speed car crash in Paris.

“Michael Jackson will dedicate the concert to Diana, Princess of Wales,” promoters Make It Happen said. “It will be a tribute to Diana.”

A spokesman said Jackson, who is based in Paris for the European leg of his HIStory World Tour, had been sick with grief when he heard the news – and had a doctor’s note to prove it.

However, his personal publicist told Reuters there was no truth in press speculation Jackson had dined with the pair at the Ritz hotel just before the fatal crash.

She said she was unaware what form the tribute to the Princess would take.

Dedicates Belgium concert to her, September 4th, 1997


Michael Jackson dedicated a concert in Belgium Wednesday to Princess Diana, whose death prompted him to cancel his scheduled Sunday show. Minutes before the concert began in front of more than 60,000 people at Ostend racecourse, says Reuters, two 21-foot-high pictures of the princess wearing a tiara lit up on either side of the giant stage. The crowd applauded, held lighters above their heads and swayed to a recording of the pop star’s “Smile.” It is not known whether Jackson will attend Diana’s funeral Saturday. He has another concert near Madrid that day.

Memorial in Los Angeles for the Princess, September 14, 1997
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/582738/Jackson-among-1000-paying-tribute-to-Diana-in-LA-church.html












In everything from blue jeans to haute couture, more than 1,000 people, including singer Michael Jackson, filled a church Saturday to pay their respects to Princess Diana.

Jackson said he attended “in honor of my friend, who is no longer here. I love her.” Dressed in black and wearing a black fedora and red arm band, Jackson was attended by an entourage of bodyguards.

Interview With Barbara Walters, September 1997


Barbara: Up until last week the most photographed people in the world were Princess Diana and Michael Jackson. Now only one remains to talk about what it means to live under that kind of scrutiny.

Michael Jackson himself is notoriously shy about giveing interviews, but on my way home from covering Princess Diana’s funeral, I met with him in Paris to discuss the paparazzi and his personal recollections of the Princess.
When it comes to the paparazzi, Michael Jackson says he feels a bond with Princess Diana. The paparazzi have been a part of his life since he was a small child, the youngest of the Jackson 5. He has been a superstar for 3 decades. At 39, he continues to sing and dance all over the world and the paparazzi follow him all over the world. He has been on a European Tour for the last five months playing for over 2 million people. The night Princess Diana died, Michael Jackson cancelled his concert, but his last two concerts were dedicated to her. He does not pretend that she was a close friend. She was a fan.
Michael: I met her first at a…um (clearing his throat) …concert…in London. She was very kind, very loving, very sweet.
Barbara: What did you two talk about?
Michael: I wrote a song called “Dirty Diana”. It was not about Lady Diana. It was about a certain kind of girls that hang around concerts or clubs, you know, they call them groupies.
Barbara: Groupies.
Michael: I’ve lived with that all my life. These girls…they do everything with the band, you know, everything you could imagine. So I wrote a song called “Dirty Diana”. But I took it out of the show in honour of her royal highness. She took me away and she said, “Are you going to do ‘Dirty Diana’?” So, I said, “No I took it out of the show because of you.” She said, “No! I want you to do it…do it…do the song.”
Barbara: So she had a sense of humor with you?
Michael: Yeah, of course. And she told me it was an honour to meet me. And I said, “It’s an honour to meet you.”
Barbara: How did you hear of her death?
Michael: Um…I woke up (in a quiet and reflective voice) and my doctor gave me the news. And I fell back down in grief, and I started to cry. The pain…I felt inner pain, in my stomach, and in my chest. (his voice starts to break slightly) So, I said, “I can’t handle this…it’s too much.” Just the message and the fact that I knew her personally. Then on top of that one I said, “There’s another one…real soon…I feel it coming…there’s another one….it’s another one coming and I pray it’s not me…please don’t let it be me.” And then Mother Theresa came…

Barbara: Because the press also has to look into things, be tough. It can’t always be kind.
Michael: (laughs) What you saw…what happened to Lady Diana…you tell me. There should be some boundaries, some kind of way. The star needs some space. Some time to relax. He has a heart…he’s human.
Barbara: You cancelled the concert you were about to do when you heard of Diana’s death.
Michael: Yes.
Barbara: And when you finally did a concert, you dedicated it to her. What did you say?
Michael: In my heart I was saying, “I love you Diana. Shine. And shine on forever, because you are the true Princess of the people.” And in words I did not say it, but I said it for three minutes in showing a big picture on the jumbotron screens…Sony, big huge screens…and her picture was there shining…and the crowd went bananas (makes sound effects of the crowd’s noises) And I played the song “Smile” and “Gone Too Soon”.
Barbara: Give us some of the lyrics, if you can.
Michael: “Shiny and sparkly, and splendedly bright, here one day, gone one night…Gone too soon.”

Daily Record, Dec 18, 1997


Michael Jackson is so obsessed with the memory of Princess Diana that he spends hours talking to a lifesize wax model of her, according to a new book.

“Making HIStory,” Adrian Grant, May 1998
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Yn8pajo0wz8C&pg=PT21&dq=michael+jackson+princess+diana&ei=qqDNS6e9A5iWygTb9JyECw&cd=8#v=onepage&q&f=false


Do you feel a connection with the late Princess Diana, given that many of your songs on the History album talk about your personal torment and persecution from others?
Yes I do, very much. I think I understood her. In the moments that we had, that were very intimate and personal, we talked on such subjects. I think it’s a tragic, tragic loss. I feel that people like myself and other artists should carry the torch of what her mission was and I think I have that understanding – it’s what I do, and am willing to do. I thought she was brilliant.

Do you feel that the song Tabloid Junkie highlights all the tragic circumstances in which Princess Diana died?
Yes the tabloids are a bunch of trash. I think there should be a way to destroy them. We should create a big burning, like in stadiums around the world – pile them all together. You remember how they used to do to disco records, and just create a burning, to make people aware. They hunt you, it’s terrible. It creates such ugliness, they never think about how the person feels about what they write.

Michael, The Daily Mirror, April 13, 1999


Michael spoke of his friendship with Princess Diana:

I had a concert on the day the news broke and my doctor woke me up to tell me Diana was dead. I literally collapsed, I fainted. He had to give me smelling salts to revive me and I cancelled my show because I simply could not perform. I just broke down. I wept and wept for weeks afterward.

Through his friendship with Diana, Michael also came to know Dodi Fayed and spoke of the couple:

They were a match made in heaven. I thought they were so beautiful together. It was lovely to see them like that. Diana was a wonderful person with a good heart. She went round the world as a philanthropist just like Mother Theresa. She proved that she really, really cared about people and children, especially the way that I do. She used to confide in me. She’d just call me on the phone and we would talk about everything that was happening in her life.

The press were hard on her in the same way they were hard on me and she needed to talk to someone who knew exactly what she was going through. She felt hunted in the way I’ve felt hunted; trapped, if you like. You can’t talk about that to your neighbour, because how would they ever understand? No normal person could possibly understand, could they?

I’ve had that attention since I was a kid, whereas Diana had it suddenly thrust upon her at the age of 19. I’ve had it all my life so I had the experience to tell her how to handle it. I just said to her, “Rise above it all.” I’d tell her how I would go onstage sometimes in the worst pain either emotionally or physically, with something like a tooth ache, and I would put whatever it was out of my mind and perform. I’d say, “Be strong and be determined and nobody can hurt you. Only you can hurt yourself – so be defiant.”

I think she appreciated it and got something from my words. I think I was able to comfort her. I adored Diana. We talked so many times, much more than people realized. When I heard about the paparazzi chasing her, I just thought how lucky I was that it had never happened to me, because I’ve been chased the same way so many times, and you always wonder. Diana’s death was the saddest I’ve ever felt – it reminded me of when Kennedy died. It broke my heart so much, I just cried and cried. [Dodi] was wonderful, just wonderful. A really smart, charming guy. It was a terrible tragedy for Mohammed and my heart goes out to him and his family.

Diana desperately wanted me to meet her children and we talked about it many times, but I never did get the chance. Mohammed talks very highly of the boys. He says they are wonderful and he had some good times on holiday with them and Diana. It would be nice to meet them sometime.”

Schmuley Tapes, 2000/1


Sb: What if you found a woman you was soft, who was incredibly soft?
MJ: Like a Mother Teresa or a Lady Diana or… That would be great. That would be perfect.

MJ: A woman I really liked and respected was Princess Diana.
SB: Why?
MJ: Because she was classy and sincerely cared about people and children and the plight of what was going on in the world. She didn’t do it for show. I like the way she made her kids wait in line to get on a ride for something.
SB: Can we say that there was an ever so innocent slight romantic attraction? Or do you not want to say that? Do you just want to say that you thought she was a very special? She was a feminine kind of woman?
MJ: Very feminine and classy. She was my type for sure, and I don’t like most girls. There are very few I like who fit the mold. It takes a very special mold to make me happy and she was on of them. For sure.
SB: Because of her love of kids?
MJ: It takes a lot to find a mirror image, a mirror image. People always say that opposites attract and I think that is true, as well. But I want somebody who is a lot like me, who has the same interests and who wants to help and they gotta go to hospitals with me and care about Gavin. That’s why you saw LMP and me at those kind of things. She cared about stuff, too.
SB: Did you ever think of asking Princess Diana out?
MJ: Absolutely
SB: So why didn’t you have the never to ask her?
MJ: I never aksed a girl out in my life. The have to ask me.
SB: Really?
MJ: I can’t ask a girl out.
SB: If she would have asked you out?
MJ: Absolutely. I would have gone.

SB: But what happened to [Princess] Diana, that was a great tragedy, Michael.
MJ: That was a great tragedy. That killed me. That killed everybody, I think.

News of The World, 4th of November 2001


Jackson, 43, asked to speak to the News of the World through his psychic best friend Uri Geller!

Our associate editor Phil Taylor and Uri, the world-famous author, paranormalist and psychic conducted the interview by phone from Uri’s Berkshire mansion. This is what Jackson had to say…

Jackson: I think a lot of what is going on is Biblically prophesied. But God promises he will not let man destroy the earth.

That man will try, but he will not let them do it.

NoW: How much do you think America changed after the terrorist attack on September 11?

Jackson: People have never been so close in this country. Everybody has flags up everywhere. They speak again to each other.

They say hello. They’re hugging. It’s like we’ve gone back to the 1930s or something.

NoW: How did you feel when the terrorists attacked New York?

Jackson: I felt my world end. I felt such grief. I cried and I cried.

The conversation eventually turns to his album.

NoW: You’ve written a song called Privacy On Invincible. Is it about Princess Diana?

Jackson: Oh boy! Y’know…we shared the same life. We shared the same pain. And that’s what we could talk about on the phone.

We were like two caged animals. We could talk about it. And that was our therapy-speaking to each other.

NoW: What was the most memorable thing Diana ever told you?

Jackson: To continue the work I’m doing to help the children. And whatever I do, don’t stop. To continue to love and to travel and to go to the hospitals. That was her favourite thing about me-how much I loved them, sincerely, from the heart.

NoW: Did you love Princess Diana?

Jackson: I’m crazy about her. I adored her.

NoW: Would you have married Princess Diana if you’d had the chance?

Jackson: Yes! Yes!

NoW: Did you ever propose to her?

Jackson: Uhmm. There was some talk between us.

NoW: So did you have a chance to ask Diana to marry you?

Jackson: Er…oohh.

NoW: Come on, Michael. The whole world wants to know.

Jackson: We talked in that area. I will say that much. I think we lost a precious jewel when she died. We lost the heart of the world. It was like when we lost Mother Teresa. The world isn’t the same place any more.

Michael Narrating Private Home Movies, April 2003


(Caption: The Private Princess)

MJ: Lady Diana, um, in real truth, was one of the sweetest people I’ve ever known, because, um, we could relate to each other, we shared something in common, with the press. I don’t think they hounded anyone more than her and myself. And we had a relationship, a very good relationship, where we would call each other, er, late at night, for me, er, and we would, you know, just talk about… just like cry on each other’s shoulders, how hard and difficult and how mean the tabloids can be. And how they lie and twist stories around. Um, but she came to…
(Clip of concert scene, playing to Billie Jean)
MJ: Wembley Stadium in London and er, you know, they do, when the royal family comes and you have to line up and you meet the family and everything.
(Clip of the line before the concert)
MJ: But at some point, she called me away from the line and um…
(Michael shaking hands with Prince Charles and then Princess Diana)
MJ: I saw Prince Charles looking at me and I said, oh boy. She said, I wanna talk to you! So I said, yeah, what’s, what’s happening?
(Michael and Princess Diana talking)
MJ: She said, are you gonna do Dirty Diana tonight? I said, no, no, I took it out of the show, out of respect for you! She said, that’s my favorite song!
(Dirty Diana video plays)
MJ: I said, are you serious? I said, I took it out of respect ’cause I… Dirty Diana and you’re sitting in the audience?
(Diana and Charles taking their seats)
MJ: So at that point, I couldn’t, I couldn’t put it back in the show, because it was too close to show time. So um, I remember, um, Prince Charles leaving the line…
(Back to scene of the line)
MJ: … walking over to us and he said, what are you talking about? And she said, oh, nothing. Like that. So that was that story. There’s a couple of other ones, but I don’t wanna, you know… (laughs), say too much.
(Heal the World Intro plays to a scene of the three in front of a large group)
MJ: She was just a wonderful, warm, compassionate, er, person… very caring, very caring. It was real. It wasn’t a publicity… stunt. It was real.
(Princess Diana bending down to a child)
MJ: She really cared. I’m the same way. If feel the same way that she does about children and the future of our children and the future of the world.

Paul Burrell (Princess’ Butler), “The Way We Were,” pp.111-112, Sept 2006


One star who fascinated the princess was Michael Jackson, as much for his upbringing and personality struggles as his talent. She endlessly played Thriller and Bad, thought he was “absolutely amazing” and longed to meet him. The opportunity arose in 1988 when he came to Wembley on his Bad tour, and she invited Maria, with another dresser, to watch the concert with her and meet him backstage. She returned to KP with a selection of tour memorabilia for William and Harry: Bad baseball caps, jackets, T-shirts, pens. You name it, she’d been given it. The next morning, after I’d heard from Maria what a brilliant time they had all had, the princess sat down to breakfast. If ever mystique was shattered by a personal meeting, this was it. “It looked like his nose was about to drop off! The amount of surgery he’s had!” she said, and she was surprised by how effeminate he was. But, she said, she loved him for his music not his looks, and it had been a ‘thrill’ to meet the man who made the music that filled KP until the day she died.

[..]

The jury only needed to conclude that one item had been dishonestly in my possession to be sure of my guilt. The prosecutor William Boyce explained that such a collection of royal items was something “someone just should keep and should not have.Burrell’s varying explanations are not consistent…Pause to consider the potential value of one autographed CD …”

I wanted to scream. I had far more potentially valuable items in my house than a Michael Jackson or Tina Turner album that the princess had signed-she always labeled them hers;it was a habit from her childhood.

Prince William Talking About the Princess Diana Memorial Concerts, June 16, 2007


And your mother was obviously a huge music fan but what artists did she actually really listened to and liked? We know that she was friend with Elton John and George Michael, but who did she really liked listening to?

Prince William: She loved exactly the kind of people who are coming, really. Sir Elton, George Michael… She loved Supertramp…She loved Michael Jackson… Tina Turner, Bryan Adams.

We used to catch her dancing to her music – we’d walk out the room rather embarrassed that our mother was just dancing around. It was a big release for her and she had many artists that she loved listening to.