Some men are born with charm, others earn it, and John Travolta? He definitely danced his way into it.

Now, imagine a 1970s Hollywood where disco reigned, polyester shimmered, and Travolta became a global obsession almost overnight. We’ve always believed charm is a rare currency, and he spent it generously. But it wasn’t just screaming fans or red-carpet royalty who noticed. First, it was Princess Margaret, cheekily candid about wanting to meet him. Then, eight years later, it was none other than Princess Diana, swept into a real-life ballroom fantasy by none other than Tony Manero himself. 

Let’s begin with Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth II’s sister and the younger daughter of King George VI. Hollywood heavyweight Barry Diller, in his memoir Who Knew, paints a scene that feels like a cocktail of absurdity and charm. At a dinner in Los Angeles, when asked whom she’d like to meet, Princess Margaret’s answer was swift, almost giddy (via Radar Online): 

She said, ‘I want to meet John Travolta.’

That wasn’t just casual curiosity; that was a confession with a wink. But John Travolta? The man didn’t exactly leap at the royal invite. 

He said, ‘I’m not going to her. I don’t do tea!’ Finally, I said, ‘John, just go.’ So Travolta went, and when he came back, he said, ‘She hit on me!’

Eventually persuaded, he returned with a bombshell revelation: “She hit on me!” Now whether Princess Margaret was merely being cheeky or genuinely enchanted, we’ll never know. But it’s safe to say that Travolta wasn’t chasing crowns; the crowns were inching toward him.

Eight years after Princess Margaret had her eye on him, John Travolta, now 71, found himself dancing with destiny once again, this time with none other than Princess Diana. The setting? A glittering state dinner hosted by the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, where the guest list read like a who’s who of Hollywood and high society.

According to Travolta, he didn’t just wait in the wings hoping for a royal moment; he took the first step. Literally. He recalled (via Radar Online):

At midnight, I had to tap her on the shoulder and say, ‘Would you care to dance? She turned around and dipped her head in that Lady Diana way, and we were off for 15 minutes dancing.

Princess Diana turned and nodded with that unmistakable tilt of the head, a gesture now frozen in pop culture folklore. For 15 uninterrupted minutes, they glided under the chandeliers, two worlds colliding in perfect rhythm.

Though Princess Diana exuded poise, Travolta said he could sense her unease. The Pulp Fiction star stepped in gently, saying:

I put my hand in the middle of her back, brought her hand down so that it wouldn’t be so high, and gave her the confidence that we would do just fine.

His next words said it all: 

I was awestruck with her… I got to be her Prince Charming for the evening.

Yet behind this fairytale footwork was a quiet, unmet wish: Princess Diana had reportedly hoped to dance with her childhood idol, ballet legend Mikhail Baryshnikov, who unfortunately had to sit the night out due to an injury.

Maybe it was the unfiltered American candor or the absence of courtly pretense. Maybe it was just those unforgettable moves from Saturday Night Fever still echoing through time.

It’s surreal and a little poetic: Travolta, who made disco divine, ended up etched not only in cinema history but in royal anecdotes too. Princess Margaret admired him, Princess Diana danced with him, and all of us, in some strange way, witnessed a few fleeting moments where cinema and royalty touched fingertips and twirled under chandeliers.