King Charles III’s Coronation Concert has been hit by a wave of rejection from top performers with two months to go until the historic ceremony.
The king will be crowned at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, May 6, on a 700-year-old oak chair and using the St Edward’s Crown, which is solid gold and dates back to the 17th Century.
The sombre, religious ceremony, conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, will be followed on the Sunday evening by a pop concert, which is to be staged and broadcast live at Windsor Castle by the BBC.
Seemingly, there is only one slight problem—finding acts to perform at the high profile show as the eyes of the world fall on Britain’s first new monarch since 1953.
The Skyfall singer was among the first major stars to be named as having declined the gig and the news may not have surprised fans.
Adele was asked by Vogue to choose between Prince Harry and Prince William in October 2021 and she picked Harry.
The singer may not be entirely anti-monarchy, however, as she was made an MBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 2013, though it was Charles who handed her the honor at Buckingham Palace.
She has said nothing publicly to indicate any opposition.
Elton John was famously close to Princess Diana and re-wrote one of his songs, Candle in the windin tribute after her death and performed it at her funeral.
Since then, he has been a key figure in the lives of her sons and particularly Prince Harry as well as his wife Meghan Markle.
It was John who advised the couple to bypass royal family lawyers by hiring outside counsel to sue the British press, thereby navigating around potential opposition from his family.
John also invited the couple to stay with him during a period of hostile media coverage in 2019 and spoke out in their defense when the Sussexes were accused of hypocrisy for flying by private jet.
David Furnish, his husband, also teamed up with Meghan for a family animation series Pearlwhich was canceled by Netflix before it was finished.
John’s reason for declining the offer, however, is reportedly simply that his tour has dates in Germany on the Friday, two days before the concert, and then again on the Monday, one day after.
Slightly more surprising, however, was the Spice Girls. One of 1990s Brit Pop’s biggest groups, they have also been guest stars in royal history on a number of occasions and specifically in relation to Charles.
Geri Horner, “Ginger Spice,” once kissed Charles on the cheek and patted his bum, in breach of royal protocol, during an event for his charity The Prince’s Trust in 1997.
Charles also brought Prince Harry to meet the group in South Africa that same year, though his description of the experience may be slightly less flattering.
“Beside me was Baby Spice,” he wrote in his book Save“wearing white plastic shoes with chunky twelve-inch platform heels. I fixed on those heels while she fixed on my cheeks. She kept pinching them.
“So chubby! So cute! Then Posh Spice surged forward and clutched my hand. Farther down the line I spied Ginger Spice, the only Spice with whom I felt any connection—a fellow ginger.
“Also, she was world-famous for recently wearing a minidress made of the Union Jack.”
He described bearing his teeth at camera flashes from photographers and added: “If I was intimidated by the flashes, the Spice Girls were intoxicated. Yes, yes, a thousand times yes, that was their attitude every time another flash went off.
King Charles III’s Coronation Concert has been hit by a wave of rejection from top performers with two months to go until the historic ceremony.
