Sir Elton John shares treasured memories of Princess Diana on 20th anniversary of her death
Sir Elton John has shared a photo of himself with the late Princess Diana, on the 20th anniversary of her death.
The Rocket Man singer was close friends with the Princess prior to her tragic death 20 years ago today, in 1997.
The pair both fought during the AIDS crisis to challenge the public perception of HIV/AIDS, with their high-profile action helping to change the way the public saw the crisis.
Taking to Instagram today, Sir Elton shared a vintage snap with the late Princess.
He wrote: “20 years ago today, the world lost an angel.”
The Elton John AIDS Foundation also shared a picture of Diana on one of her many visits to a HIV/AIDS clinic, the London Lighthouse.
The charity wrote: “On the 20th anniversary of her death, Elton John AIDS Foundation acknowledges the outstanding contribution that Princess Diana made to the fight against AIDS, helping keep men like Gerard McGrath alive.
“This year, Prince Harry, who carries on Diana’s work in the fight against AIDS, met Gerard with @eltonjohn when they visited London Lighthouse, the place where Diana had met Gerard 28 years ago.”
20 years after her death: How Princess Diana transformed global attitudes to HIV AIDS
Sir Elton opened up about his friendship with Diana in a recent documentary – saying Diana’s commitment to HIV and AIDS helped changed global attitudes.
He said: “She had that incredible ability — which [Harry] kind of inherited — to make people feel at ease and make them feel that everything’s gonna be all right,” John, 70, says in the documentary.
“I haven’t experienced many people in my life who have that ability, but she could walk into a room of people and make them feel as if everything was great.”
Prince Harry recently called for people to get tested for HIV in memory of his late mother, Princess Diana.
The fifth-in-line to the throne adopted HIV as one of his key campaigning issues, visiting a number of HIV clinics, attending the International AIDS Conference in South Africa, and speaking about his late mother’s work on the issue.
st year the Prince made headlines by taking a HIV test himself in a Facebook Live video earlier this month, in an appeal for more people to get tested.
On BBC documentary ‘The Truth About HIV’, the Prince opened urged people to get tested in memory of his late mother.
He said: “If you’re not going to get tested for yourself and you’re not going to go and get tested for your loved ones that you could possibly infect, then… I don’t know if it’s a selfish thing to say or not, but if you respect what my mother stood for, go and get tested for her.
“It’s 20 years next year since she died, and 30 years ago she was in this hospital [HIV clinic Mildmay] and she did something that no-one else had ever done before.
“If she were still here today, she would probably get tested every month, just to prove a point.”
There an an estimated 100,000 people living with HIV in the UK.
One in five people living with HIV are unaware of their status.
People living with undiagnosed HIV are far more likely to spread the virus, as medical treatment drastically reduces the risk of onward transmission.
The Prince added that it was important for him as a straight man to take on the issue, to bust early misconceptions about HIV/AIDS being an exclusively ‘gay’ disease.
He said: “The issue itself needs a straight guy, mid-30s, to come in and try and normalise it. Once again, I’m fortunate enough to be in this position in order to make a difference.
The royal continued: “There’s so much stigma simply around a name or an acronym. It’s 2016 for god’s sake, we need to start rethinking this.
“Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. When you spell it out, you suddenly go, ‘it’s not actually that terrifying at all’.
“If you speak to someone who’s suffering from [AIDS], of course it’s terrifying because it can kill you, but the point I’m trying to make is, if you can’t even say the word without cringing or worrying or freaking out about it, how the hell are we going to help everybody and solve this problem before it gets too big?
“I think most people would admit that they’ve had sex without a condom, and there is always a moment, the next day probably, when you think to yourself, ‘I need to go and get a checkup’.”
“Let’s start in the UK, lead by example, and then help everybody else.”
