Fans all over the world love Elton John for his amazing songs ("Tiny Dancer", "Rocket Man") and extravagant looks. He was also famously friends with the late Princess Diana, who tragically passed away in Paris, France in 1997. Elton and Diana had actually feuded and reconciled right before her death in a horrific car wreck.
Elton John would never play "Candle In The Wind" in front of the Princes
When speaking to Billboard magazine during an interview, Elton John has now explained that there's one thing he would never do in front of Prince Harry and Prince William and that is singing his famous 1997 rendition of "Candle In The Wind".
"Other than at Princess Diana's funeral, I've never, ever played it in front of Prince William or Prince Harry," John revealed. "Even the Marilyn Monroe version, I wouldn't play it in front of them."
John performed the song (which he first recorded in 1973 as a tribute to Marilyn Monroe) at Princess Diana's funeral in 1997 with reworked lyrics. For example, he changed the opening lines from "Goodbye Norma Jean" to "Goodbye England's Rose".
Elton John: "[...] not what Diana would have wanted..."
In his 2019 autobiography "Me: Elton John", he noted that he actually only listened to the song one single time and never again. He also did not feel comfortable with the popularity of the song which spent 14 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 Charts.
"There was part of me that couldn't understand why anyone would want to listen to it. It seemed unhealthy to me: morbid and unnatural," he writes. "I really didn't think it was what Diana would have wanted."
Elton John is currently on his "Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour" which will take him to 241 destinations all over the world. But fans will probably not hear him sing "Candle In The Wind"...