A host of British and global superstars came together at Windsor Castle last night for a star-studded concert to mark the Coronation of Their Majesties The King and The Queen.
The concert saw Prince William make a speech in honour of his father and Top Gun star Tom Cruise sending a message to The King from his Top Gun Warbird plane saying: “Pilot to pilot. Your Majesty, you can be my wingman any time.”
Hugh Jackman, Pierce Brosnan, Dame Joan Collins, Amanda Holden, Hamza Yassin, Giovanna Fletcher, Oti Mabuse, Richard E Grant, Bear Grylls OBE, Dynamo, Alan Titchmarsh, Tracey Emin CBE RA and Sir Tom Jones were the other stars who recorded videos in which they revealed little known facts about The King in relation to arts and culture, animals and nature, skills and hobbies. The segments also saw Winnie the Pooh and Piglet discussing The King’s love of red squirrels.
Hit makers including Katy Perry, who sang Roar and Firework, and Lionel Richie, who played renditions of Easy and All Night Long, wowed the 20,000 strong audience and millions at home with their performances, backed by a world-class 70-piece orchestra, before Take That provided a spectacular finale with Greatest Day, Shine and, to close the show, Never Forget, featuring an intro from The Choristers of St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.
The 300-strong Coronation Choir, conducted by Gareth Malone, performed an uplifting version of the Emeli Sande song Brighter Days and legendary rock ‘n’ roll star Steve Winwood sang his hit song Higher Love, accompanied by the Commonwealth virtual choir, with singers from over 40 Commonwealth countries.
The evening also saw a collaboration between five Royal patronages – The Royal Ballet, The Royal Opera, the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Royal College of Music and The Royal College of Art, who came together for the first time ever to create a spectacular one-off performance of Somewhere from West Side Story. The segment, which is based on the theme of love, also featured Ncuti Gatwa and Mei Mac playing the roles of Romeo and Juliet.
Other collaborations included Maestro Andrea Bocelli and Sir Bryn Terfel, who sang You’ll Never Walk Alone, Lang Lang and Nicole Scherzinger, who performed Reflection from Mulan, and Alexis FFrench and Zak Abel, who performed 1980s Simple Minds hit Don’t You Forget About Me with an introduction voiced by The King himself on the theme of conservation.
They performed in front of awe-inspiring images of the natural world spanning the enormous LED screen at the top of the stage and projected onto the façade of Windsor Castle. It was accompanied by a spectacular drone scene of a Prince Charles Clematis flower appearing in the sky, followed by a giant multi-coloured butterfly. Using an innovative mixture of the stage roof wraparound screen and drones, a twisting wave appeared before a huge breath-taking whale appeared to leap out of the screen and into the air. At the end of the sequence, “Don’t forget about me” appeared written in the sky, reminding us not to forget the beauty of our home, planet Earth.
Towns and cities around the country were also treated to spectacular visual displays as 10 locations were illuminated as part of Lighting Up The Nation. 1000 drones took to the nation’s skies in the first multi-location drone show ever to be staged in the UK. The legendary Welsh Dragon, spanning 140m, lit up the Cardiff skies, whilst a watering can hovered above the Eden Project’s famous Biomes in Cornwall. During the segment, Paloma Faith provided the soundtrack, singing Lullaby, whilst James Nesbitt performed a spoken word piece written specially for the occasion by Daljit Nagra, Chair of the Royal Society of Literature.
Other spoken word pieces were performed by Stella McCartney, who talked about conservation, and Sonam Kapoor, who spoke about the Commonwealth.
The concert was opened by Pete Tong Ibiza Classics, featuring Vula and JERUB, with performances from Olly Murs, who sang Dance with Me Tonight, winner of The Piano – Lucy, who played Bach’s Prelude in C Major, and Tiwa Savage, who sang Keys to the Kingdom, later in the show.
The concert, produced by BBC Studios Productions, was broadcast live on BBC One, BBC iPlayer, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds.
Muppet favourites Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog also made a surprise appearance.
Kermit the Frog said:
“It was such an incredible honor for Miss Piggy and me to be invited to participate in the Coronation Concert for King Charles III. The United Kingdom was our home while filming The Muppet Show and we’ve loved it ever since. As a frog, it’s always a thrill to hop across the world’s biggest pond — especially for a once in a lifetime event like this! I would like to thank His Majesty and the entire Royal Family for having us. Congratulations, Your Majesty!”
Miss Piggy took quite a shine to host Hugh Bonneville, partly due to her mistakenly thinking he was a real Lord with whom she could become Lady Piggy.
