Bryan Adams has opened up about trying to ‘save’ many famous women he has formed friendships with over the years – including, he claims, the late Princess Diana.
The Summer of ’69 rock singer, who had a close relationship with the royal in the years leading up to her death in 1997, revealed he feels like meeting her was one of the ‘greatest things’ that ever happened to him.
He also recalled an awkward first meeting with the Princess, on a plane in the 1990s, years after he had written a song titled with her name, and declaring heartbreak that she had married someone else.
Despite being left red-faced by the encounter, the singer revealed it marked the start of a close friendship between the pair, as Diana asked him to send her a demo of the track and later invited him for tea at Kensington Palace.
Over the years, rumours of an affair between Adams and Diana have circulated (fanned by Adams’s ex-girlfriend Cecilie Thomsen who said it ruined their relationship) – however the Canadian singer insists they were just good friends.
Diana, Princess of Wales (pictured, right) is photographed meeting Bryan Adams (pictured, left) in Vancouver during a 1987 tour of Vancouver
Speaking to The Times, Adams was asked whether he tried to help Princess Diana during the final years of her life – to which he responds ‘uh oh’ and admits, ‘maybe a bit’.
He speaks fondly of the intellectual bond the pair shared, revealing that they shared ‘a lot of really, really good conversations’, adding that it is ‘strange and surreal to think about’.
He revealed: ‘I really, really liked Diana, she was an amazing woman and a super-great inspiration. Meeting her was truly one of the greatest things that ever happened to me.’
Before they met, the princess was aware of the royal, thanks to a song he he had co-written about her with Jim Vallance.
Titled Diana, the song expressed the artist’s displeasure in the union, although at this point, as far as the public knew, the relationship was fine.
Lyrics said: ‘The day that he married you, I nearly lost my mind.
‘Whatcha doing with a guy like him?…I’ll bring you lovin’ if you bring your limousine’.
As the B-side to his 1985 US No. 1, Heaven, when Bryan met the young royal on a plane, the subject of the song of course same up.
Bryan Adams poses ahead of he opening of his exhibition ‘Exposed’ at Camera Works in December 2018
He mentioned that he has used her name in a song, to which she replied: ‘Yes, I know, very funny. Actually I’d like to hear it again.’
Bryan sent her a copy, at Kensington Palace, which in returned earned him an invitation to, which turned into friendship.
He explained that they had a cup of tea and a conversation, and the ‘more friendly [they] got the more [he] learnt what was really going on – and they went on to become what he describes as ‘good friends.
When asked by the Times whether it was ‘extraordinary how his song seemed to prefigure her unhappiness’, he responded that Diana’s lyrics were ‘just laddish humour’.
He added that they were inspired by Michael Fagan (the man who broke into into the Queen in 1982, before sitting on her bed and smoking a cigarette).
Prince Harry (pictured, left ) along with Bryan Adams (left) speak to servicemen during a private viewing of a photography exhibition by Bryan of young wounded servicemen and women from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts
While the princess many have enjoyed the song, Bryan ended up it retiring it after Diana’s death, out of respect to her and princes William and Harry.
Further royal connections are mentioned by the Times.
There was one occasion during which he was given 15 minutes access to the Queen at Buckingham Palace.
Photography is Bryan Adam’s second career, and he was engaged to take an official portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, which was used one a Canadian postage stamp.
And in 2014, Prince Harry attended an exhibition of Bryan’ s photo so of injured veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts – the royal was, at the time, a British Army captain.