How rock and the royals really mix

From the Queen and Vera Lynn to Charles and the Spice Girls, the monarchy's relationship with music has a history of high – and low – notes

We don’t know precisely what to expect from the Platinum Jubilee Pageant on Sunday, but we do know it’s set to finish with a showstopping performance by a scruffy, flame-haired thirtysomething who’s big in America and friends with James Corden. No, Prince Harry is not headlining, regardless of what he’s been told, but Ed Sheeran, the Suffolk singer-songwriter and most-streamed artist of the decade.

Towards the end of the pageant, when we’ve been treated to everything from seven “Dames in Jags” rolling past, to Holly Willoughby, Idris Elba, Martin Lewis and Basil Brush representing the decades by dancing on buses, Sheeran will appear on The Mall to perform his 2017 romantic ballad Perfect while images of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh appear on screen. He will then reportedly lead a rendition of the national anthem, with backing singers including Sandie Shaw, Marc Almond, Spandau Ballet, Lesley Garrett and Jools Holland. If it all sounds quite chaotic and random, well, we’re quite a chaotic and random country. And if Sheeran seems an unlikely bandleader, well, you obviously haven’t paid attention to the Royal family’s relationship with pop stars.

For about as long as we’ve had a monarchy, we’ve had royal musicians. Once this meant court entertainers (Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon rocked out to a Venetian friar by the name of Dionysius Memmo), then it meant choice composers (Queen Victoria was reportedly starstruck when she met her favourite, Felix Mendelssohn), but in more recent times it’s taken the form of mutual appreciation – pop or rock stars cosying up to the Royal family to gain national treasure status, and the reverse happening for street cred.

We all remember Brian May up on the palace roof 20 years ago, his electric guitar screaming as he forced it to play God Save the Queen on the occasion of the golden jubilee. And if you don’t remember, no bother, as he will reportedly be doing it again when Queen + Adam Lambert open the Party at the Palace on Saturday. “After Buckingham Palace’s roof, where can you go? Well… you will see!” May teased recently. Home, perhaps?

The Three Degrees meet Prince Charles after charity show in 1978Credit: Trinity Mirror / Mirrorpix / Alamy Stock Photo

Prince Charles had his musical friendship, too. US vocal group The Three Degrees performed for his 30th birthday, after which he became firm friends with Sheila Ferguson. That connection has had its pros and cons for Ferguson.

“It’s ruined my sex life,” she said in March. “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’.”

Other favourites of the Prince – who famously had his bum “patted” by Geri Halliwell when he met the Spice Girls in 1997 – include Upside Down by Diana Ross (who will perform at the Palace this weekend), Don’t Rain On My Parade by Barbra Streisand, and anything by Leonard Cohen. A notable absentee from any list of Charles’s favourite music is Elton John, but that is perhaps understandable.

Prince Charles had a cheeky encounter with the Spice Girls in 1997Credit:Tim Graham / Corbis via Getty Images

Elton – who pre-recorded a performance to be shown at the Palace on Saturday and was seen later in the week using a wheelchair – and the royals is a complex relationship. He was another friend of Margaret’s and sat front row at the wedding of Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew in 1986. In fact, it was Andrew, a noted fan of Black Eyed Peas rapper will.i.am (honestly), who had a hand in introducing him to Diana, the Princess of Wales, when they were both invited to his 21st birthday party at Windsor Castle five years earlier.

“When I arrived, there was no one out there but the dance band and Princess Diana. We danced the Charleston alone on the floor for 20 minutes,” Elton once recalled. By the sounds of it, they then all wanted a go.

“Then Princess Anne came up to me and said, ‘Would you like to dance?’ What am I going to say – ‘No, f— off?’ We went into this disco where the music was so quiet, you could hardly hear it. As we’re bobbing up and down, the Queen comes up with an equerry and says, ‘Do you mind if we join you?’ Just at that moment, the music segues into Bill Haley’s Rock Around the Clock. So I’m dancing to Rock Around the Clock with the Queen of England.”

Princess Diana talks to Elton John and George Michael at the Live Aid concert in 1985Credit:Northcliffe Collection/ANL/Shutterstock

Diana had other showbiz friends, of course. The urban rumour that she was once whisked off, in disguise, for a night out at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern with Freddie Mercury and Kenny Everett will never die; nor will her dance with John Travolta at the White House in 1985. But her relationship with Elton is remembered for obvious reasons.

According to government documents released last year, when she died in 1997, the palace didn’t want him to perform at the funeral. His new version of Candle in the Wind, a song originally written about Marilyn Monroe, became one of the most memorable parts of the service and sold 33 million copies.

It did him no harm, of course. He was knighted the following year, and made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour by the Prince of Wales last year, and has, all the while, remained close to the Duke of Cambridge and the Duke of Sussex.

They have their own playlists, of course. William has said he likes Coldplay, AC/DC, Linkin’ Park and Shakira, and once sang Livin’ On A Prayer on stage with Taylor Swift and Jon Bon Jovi. Kate, who as a pianist is one of the few royals who can actually play an instrument, performed at Westminster Abbey with the singer Tom Walker last year. Harry, meanwhile, has professed to enjoying the dubstep DJ Skream.

Placeholder image for youtube video: EJVIgUTgwlw

And they all like Ellie Goulding. The Cambridges had the singer-songwriter, a friend of Princess Eugenie’s, perform at their wedding in 2011. Her set included a cover of Elton’s Your Song. The Sussexes, not to be outdone, had Elton perform himself. That said, Goulding is rumoured to be a former girlfriend of Harry’s, so perhaps it was for the best.

And the new Elton? Why, it’s Ed Sheeran, of course. Critically approved but nakedly populist, he’s projected to become Britain’s first music billionaire, and has been friends with Elton for years, even releasing a Christmas song with him last year. He’s also solid mates with all of the Sussexes, Cambridges, Eugenie and Beatrice – which is an increasingly impressive feat. The latter, in fact, once sliced his face open with a sword while attempting to mock-knight James Blunt at a party. It’s a long story.

Sheeran’s already in the court, and this weekend, with his loop pedal, guitar and misfit backing choir, he’ll solidify his place in the pantheon of Royal musical favourites. Vera, Barlow, May, Cliff, Macca, Sheila, Elton… it’s quite a band. But please, will somebody keep him off the roof?