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

It also alleges that Miss Streisand, now 63, had affairs with Diana's lover Dodi Fayed, Warren Beatty, Liam Neeson, Omar Sharif, Ryan O'Neal, Jon Voight, Andre Agassi and Don Johnson - while Hillary Clinton was also convinced that her husband Bill was obsessed with the star.

Prince Charles met Miss Streisand, who is six years his senior, in 1974 on the set of Funny Lady, after he turned up at Columbia Studios in Hollywood in the hope of seeing her. They shared a mug of coffee and a 20-minute conversation. Charles later wrote: 'I still contend she has great sex appeal'. And Miss Streisand joked that if she had not been so nervous of meeting him, she might have beaten Diana to be his wife.

The book, by Christopher Anderson, says the couple saw each other again in London in April 1994 when she performed for his Prince's Trust charity at Wembley Arena. She serenaded him and teased him about what the headlines would be if they got together.

But it was during the prince's trip to Los Angeles, in November that year, that the two allegedly became close after she attended a gala dinner in his honour.

The book quotes the late Burke's Peerage managing director Harold Brooks-Baker as saying: 'The official explanation was that Prince Charles and Barbra Streisand had a private tea. Well, Charles has "had a private tea" with quite a long procession of women over the years.

'From what I understand, he was absolutely besotted with Barbra Streisand. Did anyone ever turn Charles down? Not to my knowledge.' The following August, Miss Streisand arrived in London with her lover Jon Voight, father of Angelina Jolie. That apparently did not stop her visiting the prince at Highgrove, his country home.

The book says: 'According to a former member of the household staff, Prince Charles had gone to elaborate lengths to keep Fleet Street and, more important, his then mistress Camilla Parker Bowles from finding out.

It also claims that, in March 1993, while Hillary Clinton was away from the White House looking after her dying father in Arkansas, Miss Streisand spent the night at the White House. The following morning the President hosted a press conference with scratch marks on his neck and face.

White House insiders say the couple were overheard having a furious argument and she could be heard screaming: 'For Christ's sake, Bill. I'm down there with my dying father and you're up here with Barbra...I mean, did she have to stay overnight?

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