Sheila Ferguson can't find love because of Prince Charles connection

Sheila Ferguson claims Prince Charles has "ruined" her sex life.

The Three Degrees singer has always dismissed speculation she was romantically involved with the prince - who she has been friends with since serenading him at his 30th birthday party - but she has found the gossip has put would-be suitors off wanting to date her.

She said: "He ruined my love life, and I'll have no problem telling him next time we meet.

"It's ruined my sex life. I walked over to this guy one time [at a disco] and said: 'Would you like to dance?' and he said, 'I can't dance with you, you're Prince Charles's favourite."

The 74-year-old singer - who divorced husband Chris Robinson, the father of her daughters Alicia and Alexandria, in 2004 after 24 years of marriage - has resorted to dating sites to find love but even then her connection to Charles has got in the way.

She told the Daily Mail newspaper's Eden Confidential column: "Every time I got to who I was, Charles's name came up. I thought, 'I'll never find anyone!' "

Although Charles was single when he first met Sheila, she previously insisted she never had any intention of dating him.

She explained: "He was a fan, he liked our music and if he had a little crush, well so did millions of other guys!

"At the time I said, 'Look y'all, there ain't never gonna be a black Queen of England', and I wasn't going to be a notch on his bedpost.

"I stood firm on that because I felt he was a playboy and that's not the type of guy that I go after."

Sheila treated Charles as "another guy", but she "became a babbling idiot" when he introduced her to his mother, Queen Elizabeth.

She recalled: She was lovely. She said, 'Oh, so pleased to meet you,' and I bowed and nodded and curtsied at the same time. Charles was just shaking his head as if to say, 'That's Sheila!'

"I'm just not used to that lifestyle and I'm not sure I could have withstood it quite frankly, because I am so in your face."