Princess Diana's Inner Circle Was Packed With Stars, Including Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn

The American actress and singer first met Princess Di when the princess came backstage at one of Minnelli's London concerts. They often crossed paths at high-profile events and remained close over the years. Hello! shared some of Minnelli's comments about her late friend: "I was lucky enough to count Princess Di as a friend. I was first introduced to her when she came backstage after a concert I did in London. Then we'd bump into each other at premieres or events where she'd be the guest of honour. We'd fall into conversation then we'd meet for tea . . . My instinct was to protect her. We talked about everything under the sun. She loved music."

The Hollywood couple might seem like a bit of a friendship mismatch with the princess, but it turned out they were there for Diana during one of the roughest patches in her life. After meeting Diana at the 1991 premiere of Backdraft, the couple offered their secluded ranch as a getaway, should she ever want to escape from the media attention.

Russell told People that Diana took them up on the offer in 1995, bringing her sons to their Colourado ranch. They had denied her presence at the time, but in 2016, Russell finally acknowledged that she had visited there.

"I guess Diana wanted to go with the boys and so they were welcome, and they came and stayed for 10 days at the ranch, and they had a good time." Hawn and Russell weren't there while the royals were staying on their property, but their housekeeper was, and the princess never forgot her, either.

"Our housekeeper Bonnie became very close with her and every Christmas she'd get a nice Christmas card from Diana," Russell said.

Among her many friendships, Diana's relationship with Elton John was probably the best-known of them all. The pair were close friends from the time they met in 1981, according to Harper's Bazaar, and he was introduced to her sons as well. Although they briefly fell out over the inclusion of photos of Diana in a book, they reconciled in the Summer of 1997, after their mutual friend Gianni Versace died.

John's most enduring legacy of his friendship with the princess is "Goodbye, England's Rose," the rewrite of "Candle in the Wind" that he performed specifically for Diana's funeral and reportedly refused to perform again unless asked by her sons. He has remained close to both Princes William and Harry, attending William's 2011 wedding as a guest and performing "Your Song" at Prince Harry's reception luncheon.

The flamboyant rocker reportedly shared a fun-loving spirit with the late princess, and they had their share of high jinks. In actress Cleo Rocos's memoir, reported by Hello!, she revealed the story of one evening in which Diana and Freddie decided to sneak out to a bar incognito.

"Diana was in full mischief mode. Freddie said, 'Go on, let the girl have some fun' . . . Scrutinizing her in the half light, we decided that the most famous icon of the modern world might just – just – pass for a rather eccentrically dressed gay male model . . . We inched through the leather throngs and thongs, until finally we reached the bar. We were nudging each other like naughty schoolchildren. Diana and Freddie were giggling, but she did order a white wine and a beer. Once the transaction was completed, we looked at one another, united in our triumphant quest. We did it!"

Rocos's memoir also revealed another favourite pastime of the duo: watching The Golden Girls with the dialogue turned off so that they could make up their own dialogue.

Although the two royal women were initially pitted against each other in the media, much as their contemporary counterparts Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle have been, they actually became quite good friends. Diana even was on hand to help Sarah adjust to royal life. In her autobiography, My Story: Sarah the Duchess of York, Sarah recalled how Diana took her under her wing, returning the favour from years earlier when Sarah had advised her as young women.

"I looked over at my friend in befuddlement. 'Just keep smiling,' Diana whispered. And I did, as I would for long years to come. I always felt safe in mimicking Diana."

Especially after they both divorced their royal husbands, they had a lot in common that only the other could understand. Sarah also wrote about this era in her memoir:

"It was the year we first put words to the unspeakable idea that had been nudging us in the ribs for some time: that one or both of us might leave the royal family . . . We burned the phone wires into the night, trading secrets and jokes that no-one else would understand."

Although her autobiography included many of these fond memories of Diana, it also included some less flattering recollections, which caused the two women to stop speaking for a year; they never reconciled.