Awarded by John Travolta as a “Living Legend of Aviation” for his role as a helicopter pilot during the war in Afghanistan at the annual Living Legends of Aviation Awards in Los Angeles, Prince Harry recalled the actor's dance with his mother Diana in 1985 at the White House. The beginning of his speech was read as offensive or sarcastic. “Thank you very much, Captain John,” Harry says to Travolta after the award, as the actor walks away. “Don't run away. I was only a year old when you danced with my mother at the White House, like you told everyone here, and you keep saying it, probably every night… But look at us now. The audience reacted with some laughter and Harry concluded by saying: “If we don't dance together, we'll fly together. That's it, thank you, that's it.”
The ceremony in Beverly Hills was preceded by controversy: the prince's investiture as a “living legend of aviation” had enraged pilots on both sides of the Atlantic, many of whom objected to the fact that the second son of Charles and Diana achieved the “extraordinary achievements” in the world of aviation hailed by the organizers.
Travolta was the evening's master of ceremonies: the actor has been an avid pilot since his teens and has a Gulfstream and a Boeing 707 parked in his backyard. “The only thing left for us is not to dance together, but to fly together,” Harry told him.
Diana and Hollywood's ex-Tony Manero danced together in November 1985, both guests of President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy. It was Diana herself who asked to include Travolta (along with Clint Eastwood and Neil Diamond) as guests at the dinner she and her then-husband Carlo attended at the start of the couple's first tour of the UNITED STATES.
The iconic dark blue velvet dress worn by the princess for the occasion has changed hands several times, most recently in 2013 when a British businessman bought it for more than $310,000 as a gift to his wife.
Harry was alone, without his wife, Meghan, despite rumors that they would arrive on the red carpet together. Dressed in a tuxedo, from the stage, he never mentioned Kate, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, nor his father who will have surgery next week.
