She divulged it all to her royal chef, Darren McGrady, after meeting the actor on the set of ‘Mission Impossible.’

• After her split from Prince Charles, Princess Diana met Tom Cruise on the set of Mission Impossible in 1995.
• She took her sons Prince William and Prince Harry to see what was happening behind the scenes—an experience the former Princess of Wales told her royal chef Darren McGrady that they enjoyed.
• But, she told McGrady, there was one reason she could never date Cruise—and it’s both hilarious and unexpected.

After her split from Prince Charles, Princess Diana was one of the most eligible women in the world. One man the former Princess of Wales said she couldn’t date, though? Tom Cruise—and for a hilarious reason.

Diana’s former royal chef, Darren McGrady, shared the story on his YouTube channel. In the mid-1990s, Diana received a special invitation to the original Mission Impossible movie set, ahead of the film’s release in 1996. Diana and Cruise had originally met four years prior, at a movie premiere in 1992, and “She came into the kitchen one morning and said, ‘Darren, we’ve had an invite to go and watch the making of Mission Impossible at Pinewood Studios in London, for me to take [Prince] William and [Prince] Harry,’” McGrady said (per Marie Claire).

Diana asked McGrady if he thought “the boys would be interested” in accompanying her. While the chef said that William and Harry would likely be into “the pyrotechnics and everything,” he added, laughing, “I’m not sure about the boys, Your Royal Highness, but if you get to meet Tom Cruise…?” (Keep in mind that Cruise was married at the time to Nicole Kidman, so he was firmly off the market.)

To this suggestion, Diana replied, “Darren, I’ll crack the funnies!”

After the visit took place, Diana visited McGrady to tell him how it went. William and Harry, she said, “absolutely loved it, all those explosions and things.”

“She came in, picked up some fruit, walked out, and didn’t say anything,” McGrady continued. “But as she was walking out, she said, ‘That’s another one off the list. He’s too short!’ She’d met Tom Cruise.” For context, Diana was 5’10’’, while Cruise stands at 5’7’’.

Cruise, by the way, has maintained a solid relationship with the royal family. Just two years after seeing one another on the Mission Impossible set in 1995, both Cruise and Kidman attended Diana’s funeral on September 6, 1997 at Westminster Abbey. Decades later, Cruise reunited with William, who was joined by his wife, Kate Middleton, for the Top Gun: Maverick premiere in 2022, where the trio walked the red carpet together. Cruise also attended a London Air Ambulance Charity gala dinner in 2024 alongside the Prince of Wales.

Speaking about Top Gun 2 at the BAFTAs earlier this year, William said, “I’ve got to be careful, because I’m a little biased to a particular person,” he said of Cruise. “But Top Gun 2, for instance, is one of the most incredible films I’ve watched in a long time.”

For his part, Cruise said that he and the future king “have a lot in common. We both love England and we’re both aviators—we both love flying.”

Speaking of famous actors of the 1990s and today, Diana was rumored to be starring in a sequel to 1992’s The Bodyguard, which starred Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. After asking Diana to be a part of Bodyguard 2, Diana said, “Yes, my life’s about to change,” according to Costner. Diana was likely referring to her divorce from Prince Charles in 1996 following their separation in 1992.

Princess Diana Broke Royal Protocol at Prince Harry’s School 35 Years Ago and Let Her “Competitive Streak” Come Out

“In that moment, the Princess of Wales was a school mum first and a royal second.”

• On June 11, 1991—nearly 35 years ago—Princess Diana broke royal protocol, kicking off her shoes to go barefoot in a race with other mothers at Prince Harry’s school, Wetherby.
• The former Princess of Wales was passionate about both Harry and Prince William having as normal a childhood as possible, despite living in the royal fishbowl.
• That moment at Harry’s school sports day proved that Diana “was a school mum first and a royal second,” according to Hello!.

Princess Diana frequently broke the mold when it came to being a member of the royal family—but perhaps never more so than as a mother.

Case in point? In 1991, 35 years ago, the Princess of Wales took part—barefoot, no less—in a mother’s race at her younger son Prince Harry’s school sports day at Wetherby School on June 11 of that year, breaking royal protocol in the process. Calling it “one of her most down to earth parenting moments,” Hello! reported that Diana “notoriously had a hands-on and nurturing approach to parenting her young sons” Prince William and Harry. Like William and Harry do with their own kids today, Diana “tried to give them as normal a childhood as possible while growing up in the public eye,” the outlet reported.

Diana’s “competitive streak” came out at the school sports day, going “all out” when taking part in the race at then 6-year-old Harry’s school. After Harry took part in a sack race with his classmates, the Princess of Wales kicked off her shoes and ran across the grass with other moms, still wearing a formal blazer and skirt. She gave it her all and had a wide smile across her face as she crossed the finish line, coming in second place in a “very close” race.

“In that moment, the Princess of Wales was a school mum first and a royal second,” according to Hello!. This actually wasn’t the first time Diana had competed in the so-called Mother’s Race at Wetherby—she’d also run it in 1989 and 1990, the two years prior. She was also known to take part in the school run and was pictured on several occasions with William and Harry at Wetherby.

“She made sure that they experienced things like going to the cinema, queuing up to buy a McDonald’s, going to amusement parks, those sorts of things that were experiences that they could share with their friends,” Diana’s former press secretary Patrick Jephson told ABC News.

As William himself told Eugene Levy last October during an episode of Apple TV+’s The Reluctant Traveler, “She always understood that there was a real life outside of the palace walls,” the Prince of Wales said. “She gave us the right tools and has prepared us well for life.”