Barbra Streisand opens up about her ‘unexpected and extraordinary friendship’ with King Charles in her new memoir – years after ‘affair’ claims

• Barbra and King Charles met in 1974 on the set of her film Funny Lady in the US
• READ MORE: ‘I loved spending time with him’: Barbra Streisand reveals Prince Charles sent her flowers and she would visit him at Highgrove House

Barbra Streisand has opened up about her ‘unexpected’ and extraordinary’ friendship with King Charles.

The American singer, 81, wasn’t afraid to reference His Majesty, 74, in her new memoir, My Name is Barbra: The Exhilarating and Startlingly Honest Autobiography of the Living Legend.

She detailed her longstanding relationship with the ‘utterly charming’ royal, who she first met in 1974 on the set of her film Funny Lady, after Charles turned up at Columbia Studios in Hollywood in the hope of seeing her.

There were rumours that the then Prince of Wales even had a poster of the singer on his wall and was infatuated with her.

The royal’s admiration for the singer is even said to have made Princess Diana suggest to an aide that she would not have been shocked if the two friends had an affair, according to The Sun. 

Barbra Streisand has opened up about her ‘unexpected’ and extraordinary’ friendship with King Charles (pictured together in 1974)

Barbra previously said: ‘If I had played my cards right, I could have been the first Jewish princess,’ and reportedly added that if she knew of Charles’ admiration for her when they first met, it would have made her self-conscious. 

In the new memoir, Barbra recalled the first time she met the monarch – in 1974 when Charles was on duty with the Royal Navy in San Diego.

Charles travelled to California and met up with the Emmy award-winning singer, who was, at the time, working on a sequel for the famed film Funny Girl.

According to the memoir, when Charles was asked why he wanted to travel to LA, he responded to meet Barbra, ‘the woman behind the voice’.

The initial meet-up went well, and despite both of their ‘shy’ personalities, the pair created a new friendship with one another.

She wrote: ‘The fact is, both Prince Charles and I are shy, but somehow we still managed to connect, because that proved to be the beginning of an unexpected friendship.’

Backstage at Barbra’s Wembley Arena concert in 1994 was the next time the pair met up, with Charles watching the concert from the Royal Box. Two hundred of the best seats at the concert had also been sold by Prince’s Trust to benefit young people.

The next day, Barbra received a special delivery from the then Prince of Wales – a bouquet.

The American singer, 81, wasn’t afraid to reference His Majesty, 74, in her new memoir, My Name is Barbra: The Exhilarating and Startlingly Honest Autobiography of the Living Legend. The pair are pictured above at Wembley Arena in 1994 

Barbra recalled: ‘It was simply signed “Charles”. And the flowers were fresh from his garden! 

‘He wrote, “It was such a treat to attend your concert last night — you were wonderful and I adored every minute!”‘

The new memoir (pictured) also revealed that Barbra had met the late Queen

In 2006, an explosive unauthorised biography claimed Streisand had a secret affair with Charles. 

The prince, who apparently once said the singer was ‘my only pin-up’, is said to have romanced her in November 1994 while on a trip to the US. He had separated from Princess Diana two years earlier.

Sources quoted in the biography Barbra – The Way She Is said Charles had a private dinner for the singer nine months later where they seemed ‘very affectionate toward each other’. 

Barbra is said to have bonded with the King over their shared interests in ‘gardens and organic food and the health of the planet’.

In 1995, Charles invited Streisand to stay at his residence in Gloucestershire, where the pair enjoyed a candlelit dinner and chatted about ‘art and architecture’.

In recent times, the singer said she received a card with one of his watercolour paintings on it for her birthday and a video message for her 80th last year.

The singer, who had an ‘extraordinary’ relationship with Charles, also recalled memories of the late Queen.

Having met in 1975 at the London premiere of Streisand’s film Funny Lady, she asked Queen Elizabeth II why only women require gloves to shake the royal’s hand. The Queen responded that it had much to do with tradition.

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