THREE DEGREES
SHE is the soul star who captured the heart of Prince Charles... but could never become his queen.
With her sexy voice, sultry dance moves and shimmering gowns, Three Degrees star Sheila Ferguson won millions of male admirers in the 1970s.
They included Charles, then the world’s most eligible bachelor. In 1978 he invited the group to perform at his 30th birthday party – and the chemistry with Sheila was clear to see.
But there was only ever going to be one answer when they sang When Will I See You Again?
Sheila, who appears in the new series of The Real Marigold Hotel, has said: “Let’s be real. There’s never going to be a black Queen of England, so there was no future in it. It’s very complicated.”
The American-born star always insisted her friendship with Charles never became intimate – yet, four decades later, rumours remain.
Mum-of-two Sheila, 69, admits she still keeps letters from Charles and will one day explain the truth.
DRIVE
For now, she will not be spilling any secrets. But she does speak, in varying Degrees, about:
Her everlasting sex drive... now steady on, all you Dirty Ol’ Men.
Not growing old... yes, Sheila, you did Take Good Care Of Yourself.
And how Marigold Hotel made her believe she could find love again... and fill My Simple Heart.
Glamorous Sheila tells the Sunday Mirror: “When my partner died, I had to deal with living alone. It’s dawned on me, I have been living in a vacuum of loneliness for nearly eight years. It’s what I thought was normal.”
Sheila opened up after her stint on the BBC1 travel series.
Inspired by hit film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, starring Dames Maggie Smith and Judi Dench, the show follows celebrity senior citizens in India as they ponder whether retirement there would be more fulfilling than in the UK.
Sheila appears alongside Lionel Blair, Amanda Barrie, Dennis Taylor, Rustie Lee, Mirror columnist Dr Miriam Stoppard, Bill Oddie and Paul Nicholas.
It forced her to live with other people for the first time in years, face hectic Indian crowds and accept compromise.
She says: “I don’t like crowds and I am kind of a loner. I wasn’t used to making a communal decision on dinner, for example.
“I was around people all the time for 20 years when I was in The Three Degrees, but this was a shock to me.”
Her high-maintenance behaviour was soon apparent, with Sheila demanding a bedroom with a veranda – before insisting she wanted Bill’s bigger room instead.
But her softer side was revealed too as the group stayed in southern Kerala state.
She offered an unprecedented insight into her personal life during an intensive 90-minute massage with 72-year-old Paul.
She tells how isolated she feels at her home on the Spanish isle of Majorca – where she lived with partner Jonathan Halton Curry.
Another scene in the four-part series follows Sheila as she goes on her first date since losing theatre technician Jonathan. He died in 2010 on a visit to the UK. An inquest heard he had taken cocaine and diazepam at an all-night party in Lincoln. The coroner ruled he died of natural causes after toxicologists said his drug use did not indicate an overdose.
Sheila says: “Jon could put up with me so it was great. We were happy and he just wanted to spend the rest of his life with me