A Look Back at Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s 1985 Visit to the White House

Rachel KingSun, April 26, 2026 at 11:00 AM UTC

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When Prince Charles and Princess Diana arrived at the White House on November 9, 1985, during their first joint visit to the United States, the evening produced one of the most enduring images in royal and pop culture history: Princess Diana dancing with John Travolta to the soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever.

The moment was almost certainly no accident. The Princess of Wales had mentioned to First Lady Nancy Reagan that she hoped to dance with Travolta. When Reagan relayed the request, Travolta initially demurred, telling her he couldn't possibly ask a princess to dance. According to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum’s account of the evening, the First Lady’s response to the Hollywood actor was direct: “Oh yes you can.” The pair danced for nearly 15 minutes. Princess Diana also danced with President Ronald Reagan that evening, as well as two of her reportedly favorite actors on the invite list—Tom Selleck and Clint Eastwood—and singer Neil Diamond. However, she did not dance with Prince Charles.

Princess Diana dances with John Travolta in one of the most famous photos from a state dinner.Handout - Getty Images

Still, an eyewitness account from members of the mayor’s office of Chicago visiting at the time had a slightly different take: “Afterward, all the talk at the British Embassy concerns her dance with John Travolta. Michael Shea, the Queen's Press Chief, responds to questions like ‘Did Diana enjoy the dance? What music did they dance to—was it fast? Was it slow?’ When the press asked how one goes about asking the Princess to dance, Mr. Shea indicated that it was all planned ahead of time, and alas, not a spontaneous desire on the part of Travolta. Not much was asked about who else danced with whom. Even Neil Diamond’s unscheduled rendition of two songs paled compared to the interest in whether Diana and John had Saturday Night Fever.’”

Held across several rooms of the White House, the state dinner was intimate by Washington standards: just 80 guests. (The State Dining Room can seat up to 140.) Table settings featured peach linens and pastel roses, and attendees were serenaded by a U.S. Navy harpist and flutist before sitting down to a dinner of lobster mousseline with Maryland crab and peach sorbet. Princess Diana was seated between President Reagan and ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov. Both the President and the Prince of Wales offered toasts before guests moved to the East Room for a performance by opera singer Leontyne Price. Both the State Dining Room and the East Room are located within the Executive Residence of the White House complex.

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President Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan host the Prince and Princess of Wales in the West Sitting Hall of the White House.Bettmann - Getty Images

Earlier in the day, the couples met for a reception in White House residence, where gifts were exchanged. President Reagan gave Prince Charles an 18th-century deed representing a pre-royal link in the chain of title to Sandringham, and the First Lady gave Princess Diana a silver calendar. In return, the royal couple presented a blue leather album bearing the Prince of Wales insignia.

The Prince and Princess of Wales spent four days in D.C. in 1985. The visit also served as a celebration of the exhibition “The Treasure Houses of Britain: Five Hundred Years of Private Patronage and Art Collecting,” which had opened that November at the National Gallery of Art in D.C., with the Prince and Princess of Wales serving as patrons. The show featured more than 700 objects from British country houses spanning the 15th through 20th centuries, including paintings, sculpture, furniture, tapestries, jewelry, and armor.

Dressed in a Catherine Walker suit, Princess Diana holds onto her Freddie Fox hat while walking out of the National Gallery of Art.jean-Louis Atlan - Getty Images

Along with stops at the National Cathedral and even a J.C. Penney department store, Princess Diana also had a solo engagement that would be emblematic of her royal career. “She wanted to come visit the hospice,” Monica Koshuta, the hospice administrator at the Washington Home and Hospice at the time, told D.C. radio station WTOP. “And it was at the point the AIDS epidemic started, and D.C. was number two in the country,” in terms of the number of AIDS cases. The facility had 178 beds for assisted living residents at the time, but just six in the hospice wing. Introducing herself to patients as “Diana,” Koshuta said the Princess spent “10 or 12 minutes” with each of the patients in the hospice wing.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”