Barbara Streisand Says Princess Diana Helped Her Avoid Wardrobe Mishap At Film Screening

Barbara Streisand remembered how Princess Diana helped her avoid a near wardrobe malfunction when they met at the London premiere of her film "The Prince of Tides" in 1992 in her memoir "My Name Is Barbara".

The singer wrote that the opening night held at Leicester Square was held as a benefit for the AIDS Crisis Trust. She remembered being "impressed" with the late royal for being hands-on with her mission to destigmatize HIV/AIDS.

The 81-year-old said the former Princess of Wales was as lovely in person when she urged her to stand and accept the applause. At first she hesitated to stand up being aware of proper royal decorum that dictates for the royal to stand first.

Streisand wrote that she did not stand up until Princess Diana gave her a "little push" and a quick zip. That was when she realised that had it not for the royal she would have exposed herself in her dress.

"The zipper on my skirt had come down a bit as I was sitting, and she noticed and quickly started to zip it up for me as I got to my feet," Streisand wrote in excerpts obtained by People.

She continued: "When I finally sat down, Diana turned to me and asked, 'Do you know how wonderful you are?'"

Streisand shared that the comment took her aback because it reminded her of what longtime songwriter Marilyn Bergman also said to her at Bon Soir, the New York nightclub where she got her start 30 years before.

"I certainly didn't know it then. Did I know it now? I'm not sure...maybe a little. I thought Diana was wonderful. I wonder if she knew how wonderful she was," she wrote in her memoir.

Princess Diana was not the only British royal who found Streisand "wonderful". Then Prince Charles reportedly also had a crush on the singer during his youth. He once had a picture of her put up on his wall at Cambridge and described her as "devastatingly attractive" with "great sex appeal".

She later spilled the tea about the origin of their friendship in an interview with U.K. presenter Ross King. She revealed that they crossed paths in 1974 when the now King Charles III was still serving in the Royal Navy and he visited San Diego, where she was working at the time.

"He asked to meet me. So he came to the recording studio," Streisand shared adding that she offered the royal "a sip of tea" and thought, "They didn't have to test me for poison or something? No".

She said they became friends from there and that she had "loved spending some time at Highgrove for a weekend fundraiser and going through his gardens". It was for a charity dinner in 1995 and the royal had invited her to stay at his home and even had his driver pick her up from Dorchester.

"The next morning 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 recalled of her stay at Highgrove in her memoir.

She continued: "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!'"

Streisand pointed out though that her close friendship with King Charles III began way before he met and married Princess Diana. She reminisced: "I had a very funny line on stage when he came to see [my] show. I said, 'You know, if I played my cards right, I could have wound up being the first Jewish princess!'"