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When it comes to the Royal Family, it’s fair to assume that everyone has found their Prince Charming or perfect Queen.
From Prince William and Kate Middleton’s swoon-worthy story to Harry and Meghan’s love-will-conquer-all adventure, their romances verge on the fairy tale.
But that doesn’t mean that there haven’t been other crushes along the way. From celebrities letting slip their dreams of marrying a real life prince to rumored royal crushes, this is an insight into romances that might’ve been…
With a world-class voice, a stellar film career and a glamorous image she’s cultivated over the years, many people have fallen under the spell of Barbra Streisand – and that includes a king.
King Charles, in his younger years, was reportedly rather smitten with the multi-talented icon. Per The Times, Charles reportedly thought of Barbra, “I have always been a great admirer of the incredibly versatile American actress and singer Barbra Streisand.”
After getting to meet her for the first time on the set of Funny Lady, he reportedly added, “I shall never forget her dazzling, effervescent talent and the unique vitality and attraction of her voice and her acting ability.”
In her 2023 memoir, My Name is Barbra, she recalled the then-prince as “warm and friendly”, before joking, “Who knows? If I had been nicer to him, I could have been the first real Jewish princess!”
In an interview with People, Kevin Costner revealed that Prince William let slip that his mom, Princess Diana, “kind of fancied” the Dances with Wolves actor.
In the interview, he shared, “I happened to be in England, and I got this message that [William] would love to talk, and I said, ‘What?'”
“We met in this room, and it was just us. He walked up, and we shook hands. The first line out of his mouth was, ‘You know, my mom kind of fancied you.'”
Even more surprisingly, Kevin and Diana were in talks to star together in a sequel to The Bodyguard, the romantic movie in which Kevin originally starred alongside Whitney Houston.
There was something of a long-held rumor that, as a teen, Kate Middleton harbored a crush on her future husband, Prince William.
Well, the Princess of Wales put an end to that during their 2010 interview following their engagement announcement. When probed about this rumor, Kate shared that she actually had a poster of the Levi’s Guy on her wall.
When asked if it was William on her wall, Kate told ITV’s Tom Bradby, “He wishes. No, I had the Levi’s guy on my wall, not a picture of William, sorry.” William joked, “It was me in Levi’s honestly.”
It’s thought that the poster in question would’ve been Nick Kamen’s iconic Levi’s campaign from the late 1980s, which saw the actor stripping off in a laundrette.
In his memoir, Spare, Prince Harry proved that he was just like the rest of us – and is a massive fan of Friends.
Sharing that he watched every episode (relatable), he also revealed he had stayed at Courteney Cox’s house – less relatable.
He also added that he had quite the crush on the actress, writing, “She was Monica. And I was a Chandler. I wondered if I’d ever work up the courage to tell her. Was there enough tequila in California to get me that brave?”
According to Katie Nicholl’s book, The Future Queen, she writes that a young Kate Middleton had quite the crush on Hollywood star Tom Cruise.
The royal author writes that, at one point, Kate’s “favorite film” was Cruise’s Cocktail, which might have ignited the crush.
Decades later, Tom Cruise would forge a close bond with the Prince and Princess of Wales, appearing together for the London premiere of his film, Top Gun: Maverick.
Of his friendship with the royals, Tom was quoted as saying of William, “We have a lot in common. We both love England, and we’re both aviators, we both love flying.”
There were no love potions needed for Harry Potter star Emma Watson to swoon over Prince William.
When she appeared on Live with Regis and Kelly in 2001, the actress shared she had a “little bit” of a crush on Prince William.
After Regis referred to William as a “dude”, Emma replied, “He’s not really a dude. Brad Pitt’s a dude, but William is pretty.”
As a schoolgirl, it’s been rumored that Kate Middleton had a crush on classmate Andrew Alexander. Sadly for the future queen, Andrew took a liking to one of Kate’s friends instead.
Still, it seemed to work out well for both of them.
Kate, well, we know what happened to her. As for Andrew, he has starred in the likes of Downton Abbey and sang with the band, Teatro.
Confirming their past, he told The Express, “It was funny because it was passed on to me, as happens at school, that Catherine liked me. She never told me that herself, she didn’t have the confidence.”
Shameless actress Emmy Rossum didn’t just admit to having a crush on Prince Harry, she revealed she went as far as writing full-blown fan-fiction.
During an appearance on Conan O’Brien’s chatshow in 2012, she shared that she would write stories in her diary when she was younger imagining Harry as her husband.
She joked, “I like a ginger” and adding she liked Harry because “He’s the bad boy.”
It might not have ended with happily-ever-after, but there’s still something of a fairy tale about the fact that Princess Diana ended up married to the prince she reportedly had a crush on when she was younger.
An ITV documentary, aired in the UK ahead of Princess Diana’s 60th birthday, featured the claim that Diana had pictures of Prince Charles on her bedside table at her boarding school.
Diana’s cousin and school friend, Diana McFarlane, shared this insight, calling it “a sort of childhood crush really.”
Their marriage would be the stuff of legend, together through historic moments for over 70 years. And, if rumors are to be believed, it all started with a love-at-first-sight moment when a 13-year-old Princess Elizabeth first laid eyes on Prince Philip.
Royal author Ingrid Seward told US Weekly of the first meeting, “She was 13… Philip was 18 and he was a Naval cadet. He was about to leave Dartmouth Naval College and actually go to sea with a war looming. So he was very much more sophisticated than her, and I think he was rather flattered these two little princesses – because [her sister, Princess] Margaret, was there too – sort of had a crush on him.”
Celebrated for her searing ballads and moving songs about love and loss, we can only imagine what new heights Adele’s music would’ve taken if she were ever writing about Prince Harry.
In a 2011 interview with Glamour, the Grammy-winning superstar confessed to crushing on Prince Harry so much that she’d break one of her dating rules for him.
She quipped, “I’m after Prince Harry. I know I said I wouldn’t go out with a ginger, but it’s Prince Harry! I’d be a real duchess then.”
She’s acting royalty, but Devil Wears Prada legend Meryl Streep once had dreams of being British royalty.
Speaking to The Daily Mail back in 2009, Meryl, who has continued a close relationship with the King through his charities, revealed, “When I was a kid, I wanted to be a princess and marry Prince Charles. When I met him I told him about it and said I was sorry it didn’t work out between us. But I’m not really sorry.”
The son of JFK and Jackie Kennedy, JFK Jr, sometimes known as John-John, was widely considered to be one of the most eligible and sought-after bachelors in the world during the early 90s.
His story was as dramatic as his father’s, with the handsome heir and his love, Carolyn Bessette, tragically dying in a plane crash in 1999.
Before all of that, though, it is alleged in a new book, Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, that Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, was “furious” that Princess Diana met him before her, even labelling him “mine.”
In his book, The Lyrics, Beatles legend Paul McCartney revealed that, despite his rebellious ways in the 60s, he was still taken by the prim and proper Queen Elizabeth II in her youth.
He wrote, “She was a good-looking woman, like a Hollywood film star. I think part of the secret behind her popularity, at least for my generation, was that she was quite a babe. In our boyish ways, we rather fancied her.”
British comedian and chat show host, Harry Hill, shared his admiration for Princess Anne in a 2024 interview.
Revealing just why he admires the Princess Royal so much, he alluded to her famed straightforward attitude and work ethics. He said, “She fought off being kidnapped and she’s kind of no-nonsense. You don’t feel you have to make a big fuss of Princess Anne. Plus, obviously, she’s loaded so she’d keep you in your dotage.”
Can you picture it? The Pop Princess with the Prince of Wales. Well, it could’ve been a thing.
Back in 2002, Britney told British talk show host Frank Skinner that she had been communicating with Prince William over email. Apparently, the two had even planned to meet when Britney was touring the UK.
Alas, the Oops! I Did It Again singer added, “We exchanged e-mails for a little bit and he was supposed to come and see me somewhere but it didn’t work out.”
Many royal fans will remember the time Prince William and Kate Middleton briefly split in 2007. It was obviously a short-lived thing, and the pair have been happily married since 2010.
However, in Robert Jobson’s book, Catherine, The Princess of Wales: The Biography, the author suggests William had “his head turned” by another woman during that brief split.
Actress and socialite Isabella Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe became something of a crush for the future king, and Jobson wrote, “Despite being single at the time of William and Catherine’s break-up, Isabella was apparently unkeen on becoming a royal girlfriend, feeling it would limit her career prospects as an actress. This did not cool William’s ardour: he reportedly tried to woo Isabella, visiting her several times at her family home.”
Isabella would go on to marry Sam Branson, the son of Sir Richard Branson.
Singer Rita Ora has shared her admiration for Prince Harry in the past, even joking that she saw him as “her” prince as his relationship with Meghan Markle first started to heat up.
Per HELLO! , during an appearance on the Wendy William Show, Rita was asked, “Are you wild about Harry?” to which she replied, “I am. Who isn’t!”
She then jokingly pretended not to accept Harry’s relationship with Meghan, adding, “I don’t know. I still don’t know if I believe [that they are in a relationship]. I don’t know! Look I know my Prince, alright! And I know my Prince really well. In my dreams, I don’t think it works out.”
When it came to the future king, Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr thought ‘kerr, blimey.’
In a 2009 interview with Fox News, the former Victoria’s Secret Angel revealed, “I’ve always had a big crush on Prince William since I was a little girl.”
One of her hit songs might have been called Hot’n’Cold, but Katy Perry revealed it was just the hots she had for Prince Harry.
During an appearance on the British chat show, The Graham Norton Show, she teased whether she’d been asked to perform at the Queen’s Jubilee.
Playing coy, she joked around about Harry, saying, “He’s a hot ginger, isn’t he?” When she learned that fellow guest Cheryl Cole also had a crush on him, Katy joked, “Get off my man!”
A different kind of crush now, but actor Miles Teller found himself overcome by the royal charm when he met Prince William.
The Top Gun: Maverick actor told Jimmy Fallon of the meeting, “You’re not supposed to, like, extend your hand right off the bat. But I felt the vibe, so I was like ‘I’m going in, I’m going in,’ and to their credit they were very disarming.”
As Jimmy Fallon showed the audience a photo of Miles Teller with William, the actor joked, “Right there I’m honestly lost in Prince William’s eyes.”
“His eyes? I mean, blue as the bluest ocean, Jimmy,” he said. “What do you want? Bora Bora.”
During the 2014 Royal Variety Performance, British comedian and actor Jack Whitehall revealed how he and the Princess of Wales both attended Marlborough College as teens.
And, Jack paid attention to the young Kate.
“I don’t know whether it’s appropriate given the circumstances, but you were probably my first ever crush,” Jack said during the show, adding, “Okay, definitely inappropriate. Your Highness [Prince William] is giving me a very sharp look.”
When she appeared on an episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2016, Disney queen Hilary Duff found herself playing a game where she had to choose who she’d swipe for in a series of famous men.
Despite the game seemingly coming as a surprise to the Lizzie McGuire star, Hilary chose Prince Harry over every single man who appeared on screen.
Speaking to British GQ in 2012, Girls Aloud star Cheryl Cole shared she had something of a crush on Prince Harry.
She said, “I think you can relate to him because he’s made mistakes.”
In a separate interview with Marie Claire, she also revealed, “I had a dream last night that I married him and was a real-life princess.”
Model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley revealed she had a huge crush on Prince Harry back in 2011.
Per The Daily Mail, she told Live with Regis and Kelly, “I think he knows how obsessed I am. Well, he does now.”
Jokingly, she said, “I’m waiting for my proposal. I keep writing.” She was, of course, dating her now-husband, Jason Statham, at the time, but trying to get a royal title is always worth a shot.
According to royal commentator Katie Nicholl for a Channel 4 documentary in the UK titled When Harry Met Meghan: A Royal Romance, two years before they had their first date, Harry allegedly revealed Meghan Markle was his “ideal woman.”
Harry reportedly first laid eyes on Meghan and developed a crush watching her play her role on the legal drama Suits.