Ricki-Lee Coulter spills on night out with Prince Harry

The singer and Nova radio host has lifted the lid on her very unexpected night out in London with the high-profile royal.

Ricki-Lee Coulter once met Prince Harry on a night out in London.

Ricki-Lee Coulter has opened up about her very unexpected brush with Prince Harry during a night out in London.

The singer, TV presenter and co-host of Nova’s Ricki-Lee, Tim and Joel drive show– which recently hit number one for its 46th consecutive survey – was at a low-key underground performance of a fellow Aussie music star when the royal suddenly rocked up.

After hitting a big conference in Ibiza with her record label, EMI, and celebrity DJ David Guetta, the group had decided on a UK stopover before heading home, Coulter explained.

“I was with my marketing manager and my husband and a couple of our friends, and we were watching another friend of ours, Sam Sparrow, at this really cool underground bar doing a gig,” she told news.com.au podcast I’ve Got News For You.

“I went to the bar, and all of a sudden, all these people started coming in, like Secret Service-looking people in suits, and I was like, ‘What is this? What’s happening?’”

At that point, “whispers started happening that Prince Harry was coming” – and all of a sudden, the high-profile royal wandered in.

“He stood next to me at the bar while I was ordering my drink, and I was like, ‘Oh my god!’ and we just started chatting for maybe five minutes,” Coulter told host Andrew Bucklow.

“We introduced ourselves and just talked … it was so surreal and awesome, and he was so down to earth and lovely and cool.”

It’s not clear exactly which year the encounter took place.

Coulter lifted the lid on her experience meeting Harry.

Harry popped into the bar where the Aussie star was hanging out. Picture: Gotham/GC Images)

During her interview with I’ve Got News For You, Coulter also dished on the other celebrities she’s rubbed shoulders with during her lengthy career.

She praised the “lovely” US singer Seal, with whom she appeared during the first season of The Voice, but pointed out his one very “awkward” habit.

“He’s a really tall, imposing figure, and he has this energy – it walks into the room before him, he really had the ‘it’ factor,” Coulter began.

“But I don’t love a close talker … I find it very awkward when people get very close when they talk, and he’s a close talker. But he’s Seal! And to be nose-to-nose almost with this man who I love deeply and am such a fan of … it was really intense. It was so awkward and amazing at the same time.”

The singer went on to gush over the experience of opening Hilary Duff’s concerts during the Australian leg of her tour in 2008, describing the How I Met Your Father star as “so beautiful”.

“That was really cool … and I was so fresh in the industry and she was so nice and gave me advice, and I also was just watching her being like, ‘Oh my gosh, I want to be like that’,” Coulter said.

Duff was “so nice”, according to Coulter. Picture: Jean Baptiste Lacroix/AFP

However, there was one celebrity experience that blew the rest out of the water: supporting the Backstreet Boys on their 2010 Australian tour.

“The Backstreet Boys were awesome – they used to watch my set while I was performing, and I’m a crazy Backstreet Boys fan. It’s all I listened to growing up,” she told IGNFY.

“To be on tour with them was one thing, it was huge. But to then look side-stage and see (AJ McLean) – my favourite – looking at me, singing!”

Coulter added: “I can’t even tell you how much of a crazy fan I was … and to see the Backstreet Boys watching me and applauding me was the most surreal, crazy thing.”

Earlier this month, Coulter was announced as Kate Ritchie’s permanent replacement on Nova’s drive show, after she stepped back from on-air duties in October citing health reasons.

The former Home and Away star has since made the switch to the network’s breakfast show, joining Michael “Wippa” Wipli and Ryan “Fitzy” Fitzgerald on Fitzy and Wippa following the departure of Sarah McGilvray.

“I have so much love for (Ritchie),” Coulter told IGNFY.

“I was really happy that I was able to kind of help out over the past year and fill in when she needed, and I’m just so happy she’s with Fitzy and Wippa now and it’s sounding great – and I’m just having so much fun.”

Originally published as Ricki-Lee Coulter spills on night out with Prince Harry