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

Barbra Streisand has opened up about her “unexpected and extraordinary” friendship with King Charles.

The American singer, 81, was not 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 described her long relationship with the “extremely charming” royal family, whom she first met in 1974 on the set of her film Funny Lady, after Charles came to Columbia Studios in Hollywood hoping to see her.

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

The royal family’s admiration for the singer even led Princess Diana to suggest to an aide that she would not have been shocked if the two friends had had an affair, according to reports. The sun.

Barbra previously said, “If I had played my cards right, I could have been the first Jewish princess,” reportedly adding that if she had known of Charles’ admiration for her when they first met, this would have made her self-conscious.

In the new memoir, Barbra recalls the first time she met the monarch – in 1974, when Charles was serving in the Royal Navy in San Diego.

Charles traveled to California and met the Emmy-winning singer, who was at the time working on a sequel to the famous film Funny Girl.

According to the memoir, when Charles was asked why he wanted to travel to LA, he replied that he met Barbra, “the woman behind the voice.”

The first meeting went well, and despite both of their ‘shy’ personalities, the couple created a new friendship with each other.

She wrote: “The fact is that both Prince Charles and I are shy, but somehow we managed to connect because that turned out to be the start of an unexpected friendship.”

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

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

The American singer, 81, was not 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 just signed ‘Charles.’ And the flowers came fresh from his garden!

‘He wrote: “It was so much fun attending your concert last night – you were amazing and I loved every minute of it!”

The new memoir (photo) also revealed that Barbra had met the late queen

In 2006, an explosive, unauthorized biography alleged that Streisand had a secret affair with Charles.

The prince, who apparently once said the singer was ‘my only pin-up’, is said to have had a romance with her in November 1994 during a trip to the US. He had divorced Princess Diana two years earlier.

Sources quoted in the biography Barbra – The Way She Is say that Charles had a private dinner for the singer nine months later, where they “seemed very affectionate towards 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 home in Gloucestershire, where the couple enjoyed a candlelit dinner and chatted about “art and architecture.”

The singer recently said that she received a card for her birthday with one of his watercolors on it and last year a video message for her 80th.

The singer, who had an ‘extraordinary’ relationship with Charles, also reminisced about the late queen.

After meeting in 1975 at the London premiere of Streisand’s film Funny Lady, she asked Queen Elizabeth II why only women need gloves to shake the royal hand. The queen replied that it had a lot to do with tradition.