Bryan Adams Recalls 'Surreal' Friendship With Princess Diana

Bryan Adams looked back on his friendship with the late Princess Diana and admitted that he finds it "surreal" how they bonded over tea.

The 64-year-old "Straight from the Heart" crooner only had good words to say about the late Princess of Wales as he recalled the start of their friendship in an interview with The Sunday Times. He shared that they "had a lot of really, really good conversations".

"I have to tell you. In fact it's strange and surreal to think about," he said and added: "I really, really liked Diana, she was an amazing woman and a super-great inspiration."

Adams said meeting Princess Diana was truly "one of the greatest things" that ever happened to him. He revealed that he was introduced to the royal on an airplane after he co-wrote and released the song titled "Diana," which had many speculating that it talked about the princess' 1981 marriage to then-Prince Charles.

Princess Diana married then-Prince Charles in 1981 and they had two sons together, Princes William and Harry. But they separated in 1993 before divorcing in 1996. She died in August 1997 from a car crash in Paris while being pursued by paparazzi.

Adams called the lyrics to the "Diana" song "laddish humour" and clarified that it was originally inspired by "that guy who (had) broken into the Queen's bedroom and sat on her bed smoking".

The incident happened in 1982 when one night the late Queen Elizabeth II woke up and found painter and decorator Michael Fagan sitting on her bed after breaking into her bedroom.

The song talks about a man professing his love for a woman named Diana and begging her to leave her husband who is not good enough for her. It included the lines: "The day that he married you - I nearly lost my mind" and "Diana - what cha doing with a guy like him". He even dropped a royal reference as he calls Diana in the track "the queen of all my dreams".

Adams also referred to the husband of Diana in the song as someone who has "lots of dough" but is not the right person for her. The lyrics read: "You've got one choice - you can get away. Leave it up to me. I'll bring the ladder - if you bring your limousine." He said he "retired (the song) after Diana died out of respect to her and her boys".

The singer said he talked about the track when he met Princess Diana on the plane and told her: "I used your name on a song once" to which he said she replied: "Yes, I know, very funny. Actually I'd like to hear it again."

The singer then sent a copy to Kensington Palace and received an invitation to tea after that. He said that was the start of their friendship which he noted "grew over time".

"When I first went round to KP (Kensington Palace) she wasn't, like, 'I really need to talk to somebody,' and you don't bulldose into someone's life wanting to know everything in the first 10 minutes," Adams shared.

He added: "It was, 'Let's have a cup of tea.' But later, the more friendly we got the more I learnt what was really going on."

The Canadian musician's friendship with Princess Diana led to rumours in the 1990s that he was "once romantically involved" with her. His ex-girlfriend fuelled the speculations when she told reporters that she and the singer had a "stormy relationship" and that his "affair with Diana didn't make it any easier".

But Adams had denied the claims during an appearance on Andy Cohen's show "Watch What Happens Live" in 2018. Instead, he described his relationship with Princess Diana as that of "great friends". When the talk show host prodded if it was "friends with benefits" he replied: "She was just... we were good friends."