Princess Diana’s stunning gesture at Pavarotti‘s Hyde Park event: ‘Everyone followed’

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Diana was known to mingle with celebrities at parties and events in London and around the world. Perhaps one of her most famous appearances came at Luciano Pavarotti‘s now historic concert in Hyde Park. The tenor gave the performance 30 years ago, with the programme, ‘Pavarotti in Hyde Park’, this evening revisiting the operatic gem.

Over 120,000 fans gathered in the park to watch Pavarotti give one of his spellbinding performances.

In what has since been described as a “fairy tale” day, it didn’t start out like that.

When Pavarotti woke up on Tuesday morning in London – the day of the performance – he was greeted by an overwhelming burden: torrential rain.

He later told the film, ‘Pavarotti: Genius Is Forever’, that he had contemplated going home, “because nobody is going to come”.

Princess Diana: The royal influenced the crowd of 125,000 at the free event in Hyde Park (Image: GETTY)

Luciano Pavarotti: The tenor gave the performance 30 years ago (Image: GETTY)

But, with Britons used to the wet weather, the show went on.

Diana was sitting at the very front, flanked by Prince Charles and the then Prime Minister John Major.

The thousands strong crowd all held umbrellas high in the air, making it impossible for many to see the maestro.

The show’s promoter, Harvey Goldsmith, took to the stage asking everyone to lower their umbrellas so the crowds could enjoy the evening – a free event.

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Hyde Park: The pair pictured after the event soaked through (Image: GETTY)

He previously said: “Princess Diana was the first person to respond.

“She asked the aides who were holding umbrellas over her to take them down and then it was like a Mexican wave, with everybody following suit and clapping and cheering.”

Diana’s lone gesture swept across the crowd and enabled thousands more to sit back and enjoy the show.

Spotting the Princess at the front, Pavarotti asked Charles for permission to dedicate a song to his wife.

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Royal history: Diana pictured wedged between Charles and John Major (Image: PA)

Friendship: The pair had a lasting friendship following the 1991 performance (Image: GETTY)

The crowd erupted into applause and cheers.

It was the beginning of an enduring friendship between the two.

Dickon Stainer, president of Classics and Jazz at Universal Music Group, then a young classical music executive in the audience, told USA Today: “It was the tenor who met the princess in the rain of Hyde Park.

“That romantic image of Pavarotti addressing a princess has gone down in history as an iconic moment in our popular culture.

“He allowed everyone to dream a little.”

Royal timeline: The pair were married for 15 years before divorcing in 1996 (Image: Express Newspapers)

He said that Diana’s act of being the first to take down her umbrella fed into the ‘People’s Princess’ image she had acquired.

Mr Stainer added: “You could see it on the screen as Diana proceeded to get completely soaked.

“It played right to her ‘People’s Princess’ image, Diana not bothered about the buckets of rain.

“And they formed this bond.”

Diana’s funeral: Pavarotti pictured at Diana’s 1997 funeral (Image: GETTY)

The song Pavarotti dedicated to Diana, ‘Donna Non Vidi Mai’, translates to, ‘I Have Never Seen a Woman Like That’.

While asking permission, Mr Stainer said: “There was going to be no stopping Pavarotti.

“He was an irresistible force.

“Even the future king of England was not going to be able to do anything about that moment.”

You can watch, ‘Pavarotti in Hyde Park’, tonight on BBC Two at 9:30pm.