From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpersonal friendpersonal friendFRIENDLYsomeone who you know well, especially a famous or important personpersonal friend of Apparently the director is a personal friend of hers. → personal
Examples from the Corpus
personal friend• I need to do as well for Roy Peck, my personal friend.• Mter all, the doctor is a personal friend.• The most obvious of these clubs is composed of officials' personal friends.• Their leaders, who were once close personal friends, are no longer on speaking terms.• They were close personal friends in addition to business partners.• The range was inspired, in 1935, by the Pasha of Marrakech, a personal friend of Louis Cartier.• Or you may be a personal friend of Lucian Freud - lucky old you.• He was a personal friend of the Kennedys. 