Barbra Streisand has lifted the lid on her “extraordinary” decades-long friendship with none other than King Charles.
In her new memoir “My Name Is Barbra,” which hit stores Tuesday, the EGOT winner, 81, recalled moments shared with the “utterly charming” monarch back when he was the Prince of Wales.
The King, who once had Streisand’s picture up on his wall at Cambridge University, described her as “devastatingly attractive” with “great sex appeal.” She was reportedly his “only pinup.”
But despite that, Streisand said the pair’s friendship, which kickstarted when they first met in Los Angeles in 1974, was totally platonic.
“The prince was utterly charming when he came to the studio, but frankly, it’s hard to have a real conversation when you’re surrounded by fifty photographers snapping pictures,” Streisand wrote in her memoir.
“I was drinking tea and offered him a sip… and the future king of England actually drank from my cup, which was apparently unprecedented. When the British press reported on this, they turned it into the equivalent of an international incident.”
The now-King asked Streisand what kind of tea she was drinking, which turned out to be Constant Comment.
“I couldn’t think of anything else to say, and I’m so work oriented that I was feeling guilty about all those musicians who were waiting for me to get on with the session,” she wrote. “So I’m afraid I wasn’t as gracious as I should have been.”
“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,” the “Woman In Love” hitmaker added.
Elsewhere in her book, Streisand recalled spending the night at Highgrove House — the family residence now owned by Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla.
Streisand’s breakfast in bed was interrupted by Charles, who was searching for his dog.
“I was sitting up in bed and Renata [her assistant] had just come in when there was a knock at the door and a woman appeared with a lovely English breakfast on a tray,” she wrote.
“We were admiring the pretty dishes and the lace placemat when we suddenly noticed a little Jack Russell terrier peering up at me, with his front paws on the bed.”
“After a while there was another knock at the door. This time it was Charles, who peeked in and said, ‘By any chance, is my dog inside?’ Apparently he had been looking all over the house for Tigga, and when Renata pointed to the bed, he laughed and said, ‘Clearly you have another fan, because this dog never leaves my side!’”
Charles’s admiration for Streisand has been public knowledge for years.
What’s more, the King even spent his college days playing her albums on repeat, according to royal expert and author Christopher Andersen.
“People look at me in amazement when I say she is devastatingly attractive with a great deal of sex appeal,” Charles wrote of Streisand decades ago, according to Anderson.
In his upcoming book “The King: The Life of Charles III,” Anderson wrote, “A framed photograph of Streisand hung in his rooms at Cambridge and went up on the wall of his bedroom at Buckingham Palace after graduation.”
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