A letter from Princess Diana, penned 47 years ago, has surfaced for sale, offering a glimpse into her youthful ambition to become a professional dancer.
Written at the age of 17, the letter saw the future royal confiding in a friend about her aspirations.
“I am off to find a place to dance,” she wrote in the correspondence dated 1 February 1979, adding: “I have always wanted to and hope one day to get somewhere.”
The letter came a year before she began dating Prince Charles, a relationship that would ultimately lead to royal duties taking precedence.
However, Diana’s love for dance endured, famously culminating in her iconic dance with John Travolta at the White House in 1985.
The letter itself was a thank you note to Mildred Lacy, who had sent well wishes to Diana’s father, John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer, following a stroke.
Diana wrote: “Thank you so much for writing to Daddy. As he cannot do it himself, he asked me to write and tell you how grateful he was.
“We have all been so lucky and everyone has helped us no end which we are eternally thankful.
“Soon he will come home which will be amazing after all these months.”
Diana mentioned her younger brother Charles Spencer, saying that he “is loving boarding school and is now very tall and grown up” for a 14-year-old.
“I am off to find a place to dance,” she added.
“I have always wanted to and hope one day to get somewhere with it.”
The two-page letter, which is signed ‘Diana’ and also on behalf of her brother, is expected to fetch £4,000 at Chiswick Auctions, of west London.
It has been consigned from a private collector with some ephemera from Charles and Diana’s wedding in 1981.
Chiswick Auctions manuscripts specialist Valentina Borghi said: “The letter refers to the stroke suffered from Princess Diana‘s father in September 1978.
“He recovered sufficiently to escort his daughter Diana down the aisle at her 1981 wedding to Prince Charles.
“It is refreshing to see something related to her life become she became Princess of Wales.
“Not many items from that period have been offered. It is surely different to handle something that is related to her life before her marriage to Charles and collectors will love it.”
Diana had her own private dance teacher, Glaswegian former ballet dancer Anne Allan, from 1981 to 1990.
She said in an interview in 2025: “During my time with the Princess, I was so fortunate to witness not only Diana’s profound love of dance, but a much more personal side of her.”
Diana died in a Paris car crash in 1997.
The sale takes place on 24 March.
