An unlikely match! Plenty of celebrities have attempted to rub elbows with the British royal family over the years — and Barbra Streisand actually pulled it off.
“It was so sweet,” the Broadway icon, 79, recently told U.K. presenter Ross King about her moment with Prince Charles. “He asked to meet me. So he came to the recording studio. I offered him a sip of tea and I thought, ‘They didn’t have to test me for poison or something?'”
The twosome were introduced in 1974 when the Prince of Wales, now 72, was serving in the Royal Navy. Streisand formed a bond with the future king after they connected in San Diego.
“We became friends,” she recalled. “I loved spending some time at Highgrove [House] for a weekend fundraiser and going through his gardens.”
Charles, then 26, was so smitten by Streisand’s charm that he sent her a special something while she was visiting London. “I said, ‘Who sent me that?'” she remembered, describing the bouquet of freshly cut flowers he’d gifted her. “[My assistant] said, ‘A fan called Charles.’ And I said, ‘Really? Let me see the note’ — and there was his seal. And they weren’t, like, from a florist because they were from his gardens and it’s a different look.”
According to the Funny Girl star, the interaction occurred “before he met” his late wife, Princess Diana, whom he wed in 1981. The Princess of Wales died in a car crash in Paris in 1997, one year after her divorce from Charles was made final.
“I had a very funny line on stage when he came to see [my] show,” Streisand recalled. “I said, ‘You know, if I played my cards right, I could have wound up being the first Jewish princess!'”
In July, Charles’ comments about his fancy for the “dazzling” Tony winner made headlines after he told the Times of London about the “special memories” they had together. He reflected on his love for Streisand while sharing some of his favorite music — including her hit “Don’t Rain on My Parade” — during an event for the Hospital Broadcasting Association.
The Oscar winner isn’t the only star with a surprisingly close bond to the British royals. In November 2018, Eddie Redmayne revealed that he and Prince William were on the same rugby team as students at Eton College.
“I always felt a bit sorry for him because basically any school you played, all they wanted to do was tackle Prince William in order to say, ‘I tackled Prince William,'” he teased on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. “So if you were standing next to Prince William, like I was, it was actually quite easy and quite fun.”
