Wayne Sleep was worried he would drop Princess Diana when they performed a dance together.
The 69-year-old dancer and the Princess of Wales took to the stage at the Royal Opera House in 1985 for a private show for supporters and friends of the Royal Ballet – but before the spectacle he was "nervous" about lifting her up.
H said: "I choreographed a three-minute number for her and she kept it a surprise for her husband for Christmas. So he didn’t know about it. We went down to the stage and did the number and it worked really well. She was excited. I was nervous.
"I did a lift from her from one corner of the stage right diagonally across to the other corner.
"And I thought, ‘Oh god, what if I drop her?’ The future Queen of England at that time."
Wayne has also recalled making Diana – who passed away in August 1997 aged 36 – bow to her then-husband Prince Charles in the Royal Box.
He said: "After the eighth curtain call she says, ‘Let’s do it again,’ and I say ‘No, leave them wanting more’.
"I said, ‘By the way, you’ve got to bow to the Royal Box’. She said, ‘I’m not bowing to him! He’s my hubby’. So I made her turn and bow and as we ran off she said, ‘You won’t get your OBE that way!’ "
Diana rang Wayne to personally ask him if he would perform with her at the event.
Speaking on ‘Celebrity Big Brother’, he added: "She’d seen a lot of my work in Covent Garden. Well you could say she was a fan I suppose.
"She rang me and said, ‘I want to dance with you at Covent Garden this Christmas for the big Christmas gala party that they do as a thank you to all the supporters of the Opera House.’
"I met her and I think she was in the headband and the leg warmers, the leotard and the tights. She said, ‘I want to do a number with you to Billy Joel’s ‘Uptown Girl’.’ "
Wayne Sleep’s Princess Diana worry
