Inside Princess Diana and Michael Jackson’s unlikely friendship: 3am phone calls, custom-made jackets for Princes William and Harry, but only one face-to-face meeting

Sep 26 , 2021

Princess Diana and Michael Jackson appeared to get on instantly when they met backstage at the singer’s Bad concert in London in 1988. Photo: Getty Images

The King of Pop gave Princess Diana and Prince Charles US$177,000 for the Prince’s Trust charity after his Wembley Stadium concerts in 1988

Diana enjoyed the songs Thriller and Bad – and when Jackson removed Dirty Diana from his set list out of respect for the British royal, she insisted he put it back in

Princess Diana and Michael Jackson may have come from vastly different backgrounds, but these two larger-than-life personalities actually had a lot in common: a fact that lead them to form a strong bond right at their first – and only – face-to-face meeting.

In the span of roughly nine years, Diana and Jackson’s friendship grew into something remarkable, despite the fact that it was mostly over distance. Here’s how it unfolded …

Michael Jackson and Princess Diana clearly got on from the moment they met in 1988. Photo: Getty Images

Princess Diana was a huge fan of Michael Jackson long before she met him

The late princess was said to have been a fan of Jackson’s long before they met on July 16, 1988, at his “Bad” concert tour in Wembley Stadium. Like the rest of the world, Princess Diana was reported to have been listening to the songs Thriller and Bad on repeat before the concert.

“She told me she was honoured to meet me,” Jackson told Barbara Walters in a 1997 interview.

On that same day, while backstage, Jackson gave Princess Diana and Prince Charles a £150,000 (US$177,000) cheque for the Prince’s Trust, the money for which came from his Wembley concerts. He also gave the princess two custom-made leather jackets for Princes William and Harry with “Bad” emblazoned on the back.

Jackson changed his concert set list for Princess Diana

In the same interview with Walters, Jackson revealed that he deliberately removed the song Dirty Diana from his 1988 “Bad” concert set list out of respect for the princess.