When Princess Diana fell pregnant with her first child Prince William, the royal was just a few weeks into lessons with dance teacher Anne Allan, a woman that would go on to become her friend and confidant throughout the nine years they took dance lessons together.
Breaking the news to her new found friend, emotions were said to have run high, with Anne recounting the precious moment in her new book Dancing With Diana, which recently shared an excerpt in People.
“At the end of the class, she asked if she could have five minutes to chat. “Anne, I wanted to tell you that a little one is on the way. I’m pregnant!” I spontaneously threw my arms around her in congratulations. Maybe not appropriate, but an instinctive action on my part, as it is for many women. She beamed back at me, and we shared a joyous moment, just two ladies together,” wrote Anne.
She continued, writing: ” “I wanted to let you know that, once the announcement is made, ‘they’ will not let me take classes anymore, but I would like to keep it going for as long as I can, and I don’t want to be fussed over. After all, lots of ladies have babies.” . . . I asked if her husband was delighted, and she said, “Yes, Charles is thrilled.” She was glowing as she told me, the start of motherhood shining through.”
Picking up later on in Diana’s journey to motherhood, Anne described how “thrilled” she was for the Princess when she welcomed Prince William into the world, something Diana herself was also relieved by as she had “done her duty and produced an heir.”
Just months after William’s safe arrival, Diana was back in the dance studio continuing to perfect her performance skills and once again began to share a previously unseen side of her life with Anne.
“She greeted me with such warmth, and for most of the lesson we talked about babies. . . . Diana told me she absolutely adored her son and wanted to spend all her time with [baby Prince William], that she couldn’t sleep because she wanted to keep checking on him,” she continued.
A similar sense of protective joy also followed when she later went on to welcome a second son, Prince Harry, although she did cheekily confess to Anne, that his distinctive red hair had caused some tension in the household!
As per Allan’s own admission, she wrote: “She said William was wonderful with his little brother and she loved watching them together. “Everyone seems very happy that we now have the heir and the spare! Harry’s red hair was a lovely surprise as I know he’s a Spencer as well as a Windsor,” she said laughing. “My daddy is thrilled, but I’m not too sure what Charles thinks about that.”