Originally appeared on E! Online
Princess Diana had a crush on the bodyguard.
Not her own bodyguard, of course, but Prince William recently shared an eyebrow-raising revelation to Kevin Costner — noting his late mother used to be starry-eyed for him.
“I happened to be in England, and I got this message that the prince would love to talk, and I said, ‘What?’” Costner explained in an interview with People published June 18. “We met in this room, and it was just us. He walked up, and we shook hands. The first line out of his mouth was, ‘You know, my mom kind of fancied you.’”
And while Costner, who noted that Prince William was “quite the young man” during their conversation, was surprised to hear of Princess Diana’s affections, he did know her fairly well. After all, the duo — introduced by Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson — were planning to collaborate on a sequel to “The Bodyguard.”
“There was a moment that that was really flying down the tracks,” the actor noted of the Whitney Houston film sequel that never was. “Very quietly, because it’s how I operate.”
The 69-year-old also admitted that the Duchess of York somewhat acted as a wingwoman for the pair’s introduction.
“It was so sweet,” Costner gushed of his first time meeting Princess Diana. “Sarah was the one that set this up. Sarah was very cool — when she could have been going, ‘Well, I’m a princess too. What about me?’ She didn’t do that at all. Diana and I began to talk.”
However pleasant their introduction or the strength of their unspoken feelings, Costner and Princess Diana eventually moved on to other partners.
“The Bodyguard” actor, for his part, married Christine Baumgartner in 2004 and was with her for nearly 20 years before their split last year. Together, they share sons Cayden, 17, and Hayes, 15, and daughter Grace, 14. Kevin also shares children Annie, 40, Lily, 37, Joe, 36, with ex Annie Costner, as well as son Liam, 26, with former partner Bridget Rooney.
And after her divorce from Prince Charles — with whom she shared William and Prince Harry — was finalized in 1996, the princess was briefly linked to film producer Dodi Fayed. However, the pair died in their infamous 1997 car crash after just a few months of dating.