We’ve heard a lot about the royals lately, what with the engagement and pregnancy and all, but today’s royal news is far more… strange.
A British soap star has claimed she was asked to teach a much younger Prince Charles “about sex”.
Amanda Barrie, of Coronation Street and Carry On fame, revealed she was approached by Prince Philip’s friend to find Charles an older, more experienced woman to romance.
The young prince was attending high school in Scotland at the time and actor James Robertson Justice approached Barrie to offer the “ultimate compliment, but don’t be offended by it”, reports The Sun.
“He was obviously very embarrassed and went round and round in circles before it came out. Finally, he admitted he was one of eight people who had been selected to help ‘launch the royal males into their future life’, as he put it,” the 82-year-old said.
WATCH: A young Prince Charles have a crack at skateboarding.
“Between them, they had to choose anyone they thought would be suitable to teach Prince Charles about sex, and James had decided that I was suitable.
“He actually said: ‘We don’t really want people who are experienced but on the other hand, well, obviously they have to know the ropes. Frankly, the main thing one needs is a sense of humour and I know you have got that.”
Barrie probably wasn’t the best choice for the “honour” seeing as she came out as gay when she was 67 and married crime writer Hilary Bonner. Of course, he didn’t know that at the time so offered the young actress the illustrious honour of being a “fixture”.
“James indicated that if things went well, I would be a kind of fixture — not a girlfriend, but someone in the background. He said: ‘They [the royals] can’t possibly go off into the world without their own person.’
“Apparently, it was to be a privilege as no payment was offered.”
The real cincher of the story is Barrie apparently turned the whole thing down because she couldn’t bear to wear khaki shorts.
“The one thing that put me off was he suggested I take a pair of khaki shorts to go shooting.
“It was those that did it. I couldn’t imagine me, in my wig and false eyelashes, dressed in khaki shorts striding across the moors. I had this terrible image of having to face the Queen over breakfast. What would she say? ‘So, Amanda, how was it?’
“I also thought that because Charles was so young, it might be a dreadful experience and I might be blamed. I had to say ‘no’.”
