John Travolta opens up about iconic dance with Princess Diana

Princess Diana dances with John Travolta in Cross Hall at the White House during an official dinner on November 9, 1985. Photo / Getty Images

John Travolta has opened up about the iconic dance he shared with Princess Diana at the White House in November 1985.

The Hollywood actor looked back on that moment for a special PBS documentary, titled In Their Own Words: Diana, Princess of Wales, which he said would never have happened if it had not been for a little meddling from Nancy Reagan, the US First Lady at the time.

"I got a call from the White House to invite me to meet the British royal family with other celebrities, so I went with a very humble attitude that I was an extra in a room of very important people," Travolta recalled in a segment of the documentary.

"About 10 o'clock at night, Nancy Reagan tapped on my shoulder and said, 'The princess, her fantasy is to dance with you. Would you dance with her tonight?'" he said.

Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales and Princess Diana, the Princess of Wales meet President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Mrs Nancy Reagan at the White House on November 9, 1985 during an official visit to America in Washington DC, USA. Photo / Getty Images

"And I said, 'Well, of course. How does this work?' And she said, 'Well, at about midnight I'll come and get you and then I'll lead you over to her and then you ask her to dance.'"

The Pulp Fiction actor said his heart was racing before he approached the princess.

"She looked up and me and I said, 'Would you care to dance with me?' and she said, 'Yes,'" he said. "I took her and the whole room cleared. We danced for what felt like 15 minutes," he recalled.

Diana and Charles were on their first joint visit to the US together. She had given birth to their second child, Prince Harry, a year earlier.

For Travolta, it was a "storybook moment" he would never forget.

"We bowed when it was over and she was off, and I was off, and my carriage turned into a pumpkin."

In previous interviews, he also described the "magical" time he spent dancing with the princess.

"There we were, dancing together like in a fairy tale. Who could imagine that something like this is going to happen to you one day? I was smart enough to register it in my memory as a very special, magical moment."