Princess Diana dressed in drag to party with legendary Queen frontman Freddie Mercury — as Prince Charles’ estranged wife escaped the royals as her marriage began to fall apart! British star Cleo Rocos had gotten close to Diana as a regular on the hit ’80s program “The Kenny Everett Television Show,” and had recruited her royal pal to come along for a wild night in London. At the time, Diana already had her own secrets as she found comfort from Charles by secretly meeting up with Major James Hewitt. Her husband, of course, was already resuming his longtime romance with Camilla Parker-Bowles. Diana still ended up with a new secret as she finally began to go out more with Cleo and her showbiz boss Kenny. The threesome would often meet at the trendy Bombay Brasserie club where, Cleo recalled, “We would tell her all the hottest show business news, and she would tell us the Palace gossip, and we’d shriek with laughter!” But on one particularly wild night, the three went on to Kenny’s penthouse apartment, where Freddie would stop by and convince Diana to hit the gay bar circuit…
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First, recalled Cleo, the pals sat down to watched episodes of the U.S. import
"The Golden Girls" with the sound off, as they "improvised the voices, but with a much naughtier story line." Diana voiced
Bea Arthur's character Dorothy, noted Cleo (pictured with Kenny). When Diana heard that Freddie and Kenny were then going to the notorious gay bar,she insisted on tagging along!
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"It's not for you," Everett warned Diana. "What would the headline be if you were caught in a gay bar brawl?" So the decision was made to doll Diana up in an army camouflage jacket, along with a black leather cap and sunglasses. Amazingly, Diana — seen here in an artist's recreation of her outfit — went unnoticed once she joined the gay revelers at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern.
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"Our hearts pounded with every new leather-clad hairy body that approached," said Cleo, "but no one recognized Diane...She did look like a beautiful young man. She was always very fit, so they might have thought, 'There's a nice young man with pert buttocks.' She sort of disappeared. She loved it!"
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The following day, Diana had the men's clothes returned to Kenny to Everett with a note saying, "We must do it again!" Sadly,
the doomed princess would still outlive her fellow revelers —
with Freddie passing away from AIDS at age 45 in 1991, and Everett dying from the same disease at age 50 in 1995. Cleo later retired from acting to run a tequila empire — and The Royal Vauxhall Tavern is still standing!
First, recalled Cleo, the pals sat down to watched episodes of the U.S. import
"The Golden Girls" with the sound off, as they "improvised the voices, but with a much naughtier story line." Diana voiced
Bea Arthur's character Dorothy, noted Cleo (pictured with Kenny). When Diana heard that Freddie and Kenny were then going to the notorious gay bar,she insisted on tagging along!
Photo credit: Getty Images
"It's not for you," Everett warned Diana. "What would the headline be if you were caught in a gay bar brawl?" So the decision was made to doll Diana up in an army camouflage jacket, along with a black leather cap and sunglasses. Amazingly, Diana — seen here in an artist's recreation of her outfit — went unnoticed once she joined the gay revelers at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern.
"Our hearts pounded with every new leather-clad hairy body that approached," said Cleo, "but no one recognized Diane...She did look like a beautiful young man. She was always very fit, so they might have thought, 'There's a nice young man with pert buttocks.' She sort of disappeared. She loved it!"
Photo credit: Getty Images
The following day, Diana had the men's clothes returned to Kenny to Everett with a note saying, "We must do it again!" Sadly,
the doomed princess would still outlive her fellow revelers —
with Freddie passing away from AIDS at age 45 in 1991, and Everett dying from the same disease at age 50 in 1995. Cleo later retired from acting to run a tequila empire — and The Royal Vauxhall Tavern is still standing!
Photo credit: Getty Images
