Prince Harry and Meghan Markle reportedly had a “friendly encounter” with John Travolta! The Duke and Duchess of Sussex met with the 69-year-old Grease icon at the famed Polo Lounge inside the Beverly Hills Hotel in January 2023, according to a Page Six story that ran on Sunday, August 6. John was in attendance for the release party of Harry’s bombshell memoir Spare released earlier this year, and The Sun also reported that the couple “got on extremely well” with John.
John has had encounters with other members of Prince Harry’s family, most famously his late mother Princess Diana. Back in 1985, John danced with the late Princess of Wales during the first night of her Royal Tour of the U.S. with then-husband King Charles. The infamous moment took place at the White House when they were guests of President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan. Diana’s look in particular went on to become one of her most iconic looks: she wore a velvet blue couture gown by Victor Edelstein along with her signature blue sapphire and pearl choker.
John previously reflected on the history making dance in In Their Own Words: Diana, Princess of Wales. “About 10 o’clock at night, Nancy Reagan tapped on my shoulder and said, ‘The princess, her fantasy is to dance with you. Would you like to dance with her tonight?'” he remembered of how the moment came to fruition. “And I said, ‘Well of course.'” The late First Lady then told John, then 31 years old, she would bring John over to Diana, then just 25, at midnight so he could ask her to join him on the dance floor.
“My heart starts to race, you know, and I tap her on the shoulder and she turns around and looks at me, and she had that kind of bashful dip [of her chin] that she did, and she looked up at me, and I said, ‘Would you care to dance with me?'” he recalled. “The whole room cleared…We danced for what felt like 15 minutes.”
While the moment was short, the photos went on to live forever — remaining some of the most famous images of not just Diana and John, but also of that time. “It was a storybook moment,” John went on. “We bowed when it was over, and, you know, she was off, and I was off, and my carriage turned into a pumpkin,” he joked, referencing Cinderella.
Since Harry and Meghan’s move to Montecito, California, the pair have kept a relatively low profile — but are spotted in the area from time to time. Just a few days ago, Meghan marked her 42nd birthday at popular Italian restaurant Tre Lune. The former editor of blog The Tig looked stylish in a black and white dress with strappy sandals for the date night with Prince Harry.
