New Photo of Princess Lilibet Suggests She May Share Princess Diana’s Passion for This Hobby

Feb 20, 2026 by apost team

Long before royal watchers were speculating about Princess Lilibet’s tiny pink tights, ballet already held a special place in her family’s history. Princess Diana’s love of dance was well known to those closest to her. As a young girl, she took ballet lessons and later became a devoted patron of the arts, frequently attending performances at the National Ballet in London. But what many did not see was how deeply personal dance remained for her after she joined the royal family.

In her 2024 memoir “Dancing With Diana,” dance teacher Anne Allan described the studio as a refuge. “She loved to dance. The minute she started to move her arms, you could see the feeling that it brought her,” Allan told PEOPLE ahead of the book’s release. “She was able to be herself. She loved to move and loved to have fun.” Allan also shared that their sessions were sometimes more than rehearsals. “If something was on her mind, she would say so. Later on, there were days where she would come in and just talk a little bit.” Diana’s most unforgettable dance moment came in December 1985 at the Royal Opera House.

She secretly rehearsed with ballet dancer Wayne Sleep to surprise then-Prince Charles with a performance choreographed to Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl.” Sleep later recalled their first rehearsal in a 2017 column for The Guardian: “We met in a rehearsal studio in west London. She was in leg-warmers and a leotard. My first thought was, ‘She’s too tall to dance with me, I’ll be a laughing stock.’ I’m 5 feet 2 inches, and she’s 5 feet 11 inches. But I soon realized she had a good sense of humor, and that we could have some fun with our height difference.”

On the night of the performance, Sleep told The Guardian: 

“She walked out for eight counts…and then stopped, looked at the audience beautifully, and there was a gasp from the audience of 2,500 people who took an intake of breath all at the same time. They were speechless, and she was on fire. She took it, embraced (it) like she had been doing it for hundreds of years.”

When he reminded her to bow to the royal box, she famously quipped, “I’m not bowing to him; he’s my hubby.” Even years later, their friendship endured. “She would kick off her shoes, and we’d have a giggle, talking about this and that: her kids, my work, nothing controversial. I’d cook, and she’d wash up,” Sleep wrote. “Later, I knew things were going wrong in her marriage, but I never asked, and she never brought it up.” 

Dance is not unfamiliar territory in Meghan’s own story either. In 2024, a former Northwestern University classmate shared a photo of Meghan taking a salsa class during her college years. Movement, rhythm, and expression seem to run through multiple branches of the family tree. On Feb. 14, 2026, Meghan shared a new photo of her daughter, Princess Lilibet (born in 2021), and the image immediately caught the attention of royal fans.

The Duchess of Sussex posted a sweet family tribute featuring Prince Harry carrying Lilibet as she held a cluster of red balloons. Meghan captioned the picture, “These two + Archie = my forever Valentines,” giving a nod to her and Harry’s son, Prince Archie (born in 2019). While the moment was simple, it was Lilibet’s outfit that sparked conversation. Dressed head-to-toe in soft pink, complete with matching tights, the little royal looked ready for her first ballet class.

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What do you think of Princess Lilibet’s new photo? What do you think about Princess Lilibet and Princess Diana’s love of ballet? Let us know and pass this on to your family, friends and other British royal family fans out there!