Inside King Charles' Friendship With Barbra Streisand

When King Charles III was still a 20-something student at Cambridge University, rumor has it he had only one female pin-up tacked on his dorm room wall: Barbra Streisand. According to the "Funny Girl" actor's memoir "My Name is Barbra," she was one of the future King Charles' two celebrity crushes (the other being British actor Joan Collins). In Streisand's case, it didn't take long for Charles' crush to become a life-long friendship. 

Streisand's memoir details the musical icon's first encounter with the prince in 1974. Charles, who was visiting San Diego on naval duty, heard that Streisand was in the studio recording tracks for her upcoming film, "Funny Lady." Already a fan of her music — and that supposed dorm room poster — Prince Charles happily met Streisand at Warner Brother Studios in Los Angeles.

"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. "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. So, I'm afraid I wasn't as gracious as I should have been."

Despite Barbra Streisand and Prince Charles' international fame, the singer said they were both a bit awkward. As for the pin-up poster? That didn't make it into their conversation. Streisand wrote she had no idea that Prince Charles had a crush on her at the time. (More specifically, she didn't know that Charles had called her "devastatingly attractive" with "great sex appeal.") Streisand said she would've been more nervous had she known.

Still, the bashful duo was able to warm up to one another over the course of their brief studio visit. Streisand recalled Charles asking her what she was drinking from her mug — Constant Comment tea — and offering the royal a sip. He accepted her offer, sipping her tea in an unprecedented move that Streisand said the British press reported on with the same vigor as an "international incident." Two decades later, the stars' paths would cross again at Streisand's 1994 London fundraiser concert for Charles' Trust charity.

With the then-future King Charles in attendance, Streisand set up her next song, "Someday My Prince Will Come," with a quip about her first meeting with Charles, per EW. "I couldn't resist adding, 'Who knows? If I had been nicer to him, I could have been the first real Jewish princess!'" The tongue-in-cheek bit became a mainstay of Streisand's stage banter.

According to Barbra Streisand's memoir, the future King Charles III sent the singer a bouquet of fresh-cut flowers from his garden and a handwritten note after her 1994 Wembley Stadium performance. The pair continued to visit each other in their respective hometowns, having tea in California and spending weekends at Charles' private Highgrove estate. Streisand and the king still send one another birthday cards, often with hand-drawn illustrations and small gifts. 

Although Charles and Streisand have never admitted to anything more intimate than a close friendship, that hasn't stopped some from speculating. In Christopher Andersen's book "Game of Crowns: Elizabeth, Camilla, Kate, and the Throne," he wrote that 20 years after the duo's 1974 introduction, "They had a secret rendezvous at the Bel Air Hotel that no one knows about. Something was going on, and [Princess] Diana knew all about it." Per Andersen, this mid-1990s meeting started Charles and Streisand's rumored affair. 

Affair or not, it's clear the two public figures have maintained their respect and admiration for one another over the years. Charles spoke fondly about Streisand in 2021, saying, "I have always been a great admirer of the incredibly versatile American actress and singer Barbra Streisand. I shall never forget her dazzling, effervescent talent and the unique vitality of her voice and her acting ability" (via Vanity Fair).