Freddie Mercury Put Princess Diana in Drag to Visit Gay Bar

We all knew that Princess Diana was a noted LGBTQ+ ally but looks like things went deeper than imagined. According to a new report, while palling around with her friend Freddie Mercury, the royal once got into boy drag to visit the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, an iconic gay bar in London.

In her new memoir, The Power of Positive Drinking, actress Cleo Rocos tells how Queen's frontman helped to pull off the scheme. According to Rocos, the three had been spending the day with comedian Kenny Everett drinking champagne and watching reruns of The Golden Girls, muted so they could provide their own "naughtier storylines." When the rebellious royal learned the group planned on visiting the historic gay bar Royal Vauxhall Tavern later that evening, she insisted upon joining them. It was Mercury who ended up cosigning the addition.

"Go on, let the girl have some fun," he reportedly said.

There was an issue of course: Diana was, at the time, one of the most photographed faces in the world. A visit to a gay bar would not go unnoticed. So, they needed a disguise.

In the end, they settled on a look that would let the mother of princes William and Harry "pass for a rather eccentrically dressed gay male model."

The group visited the Royal Vauxhall Tavern (which is England's first LGBTQ+ historic site and is now crowdfunding to stay afloat during the global shutdown), where a giggling Diana was able to purchase wine and beer from the bar without being recognized.

They didn't stay long, perhaps no more than twenty minutes. However, Diana and everyone found it to be an enormous success, and not just because the most famous woman in all of Britain was able to party incognito at a gay bar dressed in drag.

"She did look like a beautiful young man," Rocco remembers.

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