Bill Clinton once tried to seduce Jacqueline Kennedy at her New York apartment despite the 17-year age gap.

The former President ‘almost forcibly’ tried to have sex with the former First Lady even though she protested, a new book claims in an outlandish account of the encounter.

Mrs Kennedy, who was in her 60s at the time, said that she and Mr Clinton nearly got into a ‘wrestling match’ before she was able to throw him off.

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Bill Clinton 'tried to seduce' former First Lady Jackie Kennedy, according to outlandish claims in a new book. Above the pair are pictured together in 1993 at an event at the Kennedy Library in Boston

She told a friend that Mr Clinton was just like her late husband John F Kennedy - who was notorious for his affairs - as both would not take ‘no’ for an answer.

Mr Clinton had admired Mr Kennedy since he was young and met him when he was still a boy in 1963 in the Rose Garden of the White House.

When Mr Clinton ran for President in 1992 he received the blessing of Mrs Kennedy, who made numerous contributions to his war chest.

Biographer Sarah Bradford has written that Mr Clinton reminded Mrs Kennedy of her husband because of his ‘famous charm and intellectual curiosity as well, no doubt, the rumors of his sexual peccadilloes’.

But according to a new book, their relationship soured when Mr Clinton made a pass at her.

In Bill and Hillary: So This Is That Thing Called Love, authors Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince write that the encounter between Mrs Kennedy and Clinton took place when he visited her one afternoon at her Fifth Avenue apartment in Manhattan.

Clinton allegedly found Mrs Kennedy (pictured together with Caroline and John Kennedy Jr in 1993) attractive, and made a move on her in her New York apartment, according to the book

Mrs Kennedy told a friend: ‘We almost indulged in a wrestling match. It was most embarrassing.

‘I mean, I was flattered that I turned him on so much at my age, but Bill was just like Jack in the sense that neither of them wanted to take "no" for an answer.

‘Ever since that day I prefer not to be alone in the same room with Bill. I fear he’s a man who never gives up.’

A spokesman for the Clintons said on Sunday: '[Is it] possible to quote me laughing at the sheer absurdity of this story?'

Until the alleged pass, relations between Mrs Kennedy and the Clintons had been on great terms, and in August 1993 she invited the couple to her vacation home in Martha’s Vineyard.

Mrs Kennedy supposedly found much common ground with them both, especially Mrs Clinton.

The pair discussed the fear of somebody assassinating the President, their hopes and dreams and their responsibilities as the First Lady.

Mrs Kennedy supposedly told Mrs Clinton: ‘You and I grew up in different times. In my day no woman really thought she might ever be President.

‘Our greatest dream was to grow up and marry a powerful man, preferably a rich one. When I decided to attach myself to a handsome young senator from Massachusetts, I seriously thought he might be President one day, even though he was a Catholic.

‘I was prepared to overlook a lot... you, on the other hand, might end up making history all on your own’.

Mrs Clinton is said to have responded: ‘One difference in our situations is that you suffered in silence if Jack let you down. I have read about Bill’s shortcomings on the front page’.

Mrs Clinton, currently the leading Democratic Presidential candidate, is even said to told Mrs Kennedy that she wanted to be President but she would have to wait until the 21st century.

The two women also bonded over the problems they faced with being married to men who had a wandering eye.

Mr Kennedy’s affairs were well documented and ranged from White House interns to Marilyn Monroe. Mr Clinton was dogged by allegations of affairs his whole political life, culminating in the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

During their meeting, Mrs Kennedy supposedly gave Mrs Clinton a warning on the ‘peculiar and dangerous attraction evoked by charismatic politicians’.

She said: ‘Bill’s personal magnetism might evoke strong feelings in women. He might become a target. He has to be careful, so very, very careful.’

The anecdotes are said to have been collected by former Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham, who died in 2001.

The Post did not want to print the stories but she recounted them to friends including author Truman Capote.

The book is not the first time that Clintons have faced claims about their personal lives and Mr Clinton’s sex life.

Author Ed Klein has claimed that Mr Clinton has a mistress who comes to his home in upstate New York who the Secret Service has dubbed ‘The Energizer’.

His latest book about Mrs Clinton, Unlikeable, claimed that Hillary took acting lessons after being giving advice from director Steven Spielberg.

Bill & Hillary: So This Is That Thing Called Love is availabe to pre-order on Amazon.