Even before Princess Diana asked Neil Diamond to dance, the singer’s nerves were already jangly. First Lady Nancy Reagan asked him to sing for the distinguished crowd. Diamond got on the stage and sang “September Morn.” As he sang, Diamond was blown away and thought to himself “I’m still a kid from Brooklyn, and here I am at the White House with the prince and the princess, the president of the United States and other great people” (via Knight-Ridder).
When the crowd asked for an encore, Diamond complied and belted out “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers.” “Looking around the room as I sang, it all seemed so unreal seeing President Reagan and his wife, the Prince and Princess,” he recalled in 2017. ” Some of the most-famous faces in the world were watching me.” Then, as he exited the stage, Princess Diana came up and asked him to dance, upping Diamond’s nervousness.
