It’s no secret that the Royal Family rub shoulders with Hollywood stars and fashion icons at the glittering galas and premieres they attend.
But with news of Prince Harry‘s ski trip with Kris Jenner‘s boyfriend Corey Gamble, it might come as a shock that British royals have forged lasting friendships with a handful of A-listers.
These unlikely friendships go back as far as their school days for some royals, while Michael Jackson once recalled late-night phone conversations with Princess Diana.
Celebrities and royals have even been pictured holidaying together, while others have formed close bonds over their passion for a particular charity or cause.
Here, FEMAIL details the most surprising friendships – and how they came to be.
King Charles and Queen Camilla
King Charles and Queen Camilla have a legion of friends in high places, but it might surprise you that much-loved British actress Dame Judi Dench is in their ranks.
Dame Judi has had a close friendship with the King and Queen for years, and the trio are regularly seen chatting at functions they all attend.
In one memorable photograph from 2018, Judi and Camilla were seen enjoying an ice cream together at the holiday home of Queen Victoria on the Isle of Wight.
They were most recently spotted together at the inaugural Queen’s Reading Room Literary Festival at Hampton Court Palace in October.
And if her friendship with the Royal Family wasn’t clear, Dame Judi has defended the royals in the public eye, once describing Netflix’s The Crown as ‘crude sensationalism’.
She wrote in The Times that as it approached modern times, the programme seemed more willing to ‘blur the lines between historical accuracy and crude sensationalism’.
‘While many will recognise The Crown for the brilliant but fictionalised account of events that it is, I fear that a significant number of viewers, particularly overseas, may take its version of history as being wholly true,’ Dame Judi added.
King Charles has also shared an unlikely friendship with British rock legend Sir Rod Stewart for years.
The 79-year-old musician is an ambassador for Charles’s charity The Prince’s Trust – alongside many famous faces – and has donated items to auction for the cause.
Sir Rod has also performed at two royal birthday parties: one in 2002 for the late Queen Elizabeth II, and another in 2008 for Charles himself.
The King is also good friends with Rod’s wife, the former model Penny Lancaster.
Last month, Sir Rod praised Charles for his speaking publicly about his cancer diagnosis.
This year, the King announced he had been diagnosed with a form of cancer, but did not specify additional details. Sir Rod revealed in 2019 he had suffered prostate cancer for three years, but is now in the clear.
During an appearance on Loose Women, the musician praised the King for being open about his illness.
Sir Rod said: ‘Let’s take our hats off to our King, who has made it publicly known. We are prostate sisters!’
Princess Diana
Another royal who had her fair share of celebrity friendships was Princess Diana, the most notable of which was with Michael Jackson.
Though it was a long-distance friendship, Diana and Michael became fast friends after meeting just once in 1988 – when the music icon was performing at Wembley in aid of The Prince’s Trust.
He spoke to Barbara Walters about their friendship in 1997, which he said consisted largely of long phone calls late at night – and into the small hours.
Michael said: ‘She was extremely close by phone… I was still married to Lisa Marie [Presley]. Diana woke me up usually late at night… mostly after three in the morning! And then she held me for hours on the telephone.
‘She talked about children, the press.’
Princess Diana also famously had a close friendship with Sir Elton John.
The musician rewrote the lyrics to his song Candle in the Wind and performed it at the late princess’s funeral in 1997 – and maintains strong relationships with her two sons, William and Harry, to this day.
At the funeral, Sir Elton removed the phrase ‘goodbye Norma Jean, though I never knew you at all’, and replaced it with the lyrics: ‘Goodbye England’s rose, may you ever grow in our hearts’.
Sir Elton detailed how he first met Diana in his biography ‘Me’, published in 2019.
He said they ‘immediately clicked’ at a party for Prince Andrew in 1981, and danced together through the night. The pair were later spotted together on a number of occasions, including at a memorial service for Gianni Versace in July 1997.
Prince William
Perhaps one of the most well known celebrity relationships with the Royal Family is that of David Beckham, who considers both Prince William and Prince Harry friends.
Asked by Esquire whether he would consider the brothers friends, he said: ‘Yeah, I think I would. We’ve done a lot of functions together. It’s a very normal relationship. With Harry, as well.
‘They’re very easy to get along with.’
David has a particularly close friendship with William and Kate Middleton, having accepted a family dinner party invitation late last year.
He also joined a group video call in 2020 when William and other sporting stars for the future king’s Heads Up mental health campaign.
David and his wife Victoria attended the weddings of both Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011, and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018.
A lesser known friend of Prince William is The Danish Girl actor Eddie Redmayne.
Though the 42-year-old actor has admitted he and William aren’t as close as they used to be, the duo were good pals when they both attended Eton College.
‘He was a pal at school, but I haven’t seen him since school,’ Eddie said in 2015. ‘And no – no messages.’
But later that year, Eddie and William were photographed chatting animatedly at the Cambridge County Polo Club, where the actor introduced his old school friend to his wife Hannah Bagshawe.
‘We were on the same Colts B team in 1997,’ Eddie previously recalled. ‘I always felt slightly sorry for Will because everyone wanted to tackle the future King of England.
‘He took all the hits.’
Kate Middleton
Unlike her husband, the Princess of Wales appears to be less familiar with A-listers.
However, she has recently struck a friendship with author Giovanna Fletcher, the wife of McFly vocalist Tom Fletcher.
The pair reportedly became fast friends after Kate appeared on Giovanna’s Happy Mum Happy Baby podcast in 2020, to share her experience of motherhood so far.
It was reported that Kate and Giovanna were only scheduled to chat for 45 minutes, but got on so well that they continued far beyond this.
And Giovanna was among those to send a message to the royal via Instagram after news that Kate would have abdominal surgery this year, writing: ‘Sending love.’
Prince Harry
Perhaps the royal with the most celebrity connections, it was revealed today that Prince Harry has struck up a friendship with Kris Jenner’s boyfriend Corey Gamble.
The Duke of Sussex, 39, is understood to have been enjoying the glories of Aspen, America’s swankiest ski resort in Colorado, in the company of business executive Corey, 43.
Gamble is the man in the life of Kris, the 68-year-old mother of U.S. television royalty Kim, Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian; she also has two daughters, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, by second husband Bruce – now Caitlyn – Jenner.
A source said that Harry had been hitting the slopes with Gamble, as well as Bumble dating app billionaire Whitney Wolfe, 34, and her husband Michael Herd, whom she met on a previous skiing trip.
However, there has been no sign of Meghan on the pistes: she has been too busy relaunching herself as an online guru with cookery and lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are also known to be good friends with George and Amal Clooney, who attended their wedding in 2018.
It’s thought that Harry became close to George through his charity work, though it was claimed last year that the foursome are no longer as close as they once were.
George and Amal were once frequent visitors to Harry and Meghan’s home in Los Angeles but, as per the Daily Record, the A-listers are now ‘more linked to King Charles’.
They attended a Prince’s Trust event in London last May.
Singer James Blunt is also a close friend of Prince Harry, having served alongside each other in the British Army in the mid-2000s.
The musician and his wife Sofia Wellesley – the daughter of Lord and Lady John Henry Wellesley – attended Harry and Meghan’s wedding at Windsor Castle in 2018.
It has also been reported that James was personally invited to attend the Invictus Games, a charity set up by Prince Harry to support sick and injured servicemen and women.
Meghan Markle
The Duchess of Sussex, who once had a blossoming acting career, counts a number of famous faces among her close friends – including tennis ace Serena Williams.
The pair became friends long before Meghan married her prince, after initially meeting at a Super Bowl party in 2010. But it wasn’t until 2014 that their friendship flourished.
Writing on her now-deleted blog The Tig, Meghan said: ‘We are both the same age, have a penchant for hot sauces, and adore fashion, but what connects us more than those things is perhaps our belief in exceeding expectations – our endless ambition.’
Serena attended Meghan and Harry’s wedding in 2018, and was invited to Meghan’s star-studded baby shower in New York in 2019.
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie
British songstress Ellie Goulding is another famous face who has a relationship with a few members of the Royal Family, including Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.
She and Beatrice went on holiday together in 2018, sightseeing in Jordan.
Ellie has also attended a number of royal weddings, including performing at Prince William and Kate Middleton’s nuptials in 2011.
She also attended Princess Eugenie’s wedding, and that of Harry and Meghan.
The sisters are also good friends with A-list model Naomi Campbell, as is their mother Sarah, Duchess of York.
The family are often spotted posing with Naomi at functions – and at London Fashion Week – and appear to have known each other for a number of years.
The supermodel is also an ambassador for King Charles’ Princes Trust charity, and had represented the late Queen as an ambassador for the Commonwealth Trust.
Naomi also attended Princess Eugenie’s wedding to Jack Brooksbank in 2018.
