Photo: People
Queen Elizabeth made an unexpected appearance with Paddington Bear during a Platinum Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace.
Paddington appeared with the monarch in the recorded sketch before the pop band Queen started the musical presentations. Diana Ross, Sir Rod Stewart, and Duran Duran participated in the show.
However, the Queen failed to watch her Platinum Party at the Palace and was not in attendance, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
For the past few months, the monarch has been suffering from mobility issues and did not attend the thanksgiving service on Friday. As a result, she missed out on the Derby at Epsom on Saturday too.
But similar to her cameo in a sketch with James Bond for the London Olympics ten years ago, she had pre-recorded a comedy segment spanning two and a half minutes, in which she gave Paddington tea and made him take a look at a marmalade sandwich she keeps in her handbag.
“While the Queen may not be attending the concert in person, she was very keen that people understood how much it meant to her and that all those watching had a great time,” said a statement from Buckingham Palace.
In the brief appearance, the Queen and Paddington pat their teacups to the beat of Queen’s “We Will Rock You” as the band, alongside their US singer Adam Lambert, started performing the iconic song with 34 Royal Marine drummers.
The guitarist for Queen Brian May played on the Victoria Memorial monument 20 years following his performance on the palace roof for the Golden Jubilee concert.
The Queen’s favorite songs were released before the rock era. A playlist of her top 10, launched for her 90th birthday in 2016, counts Dame Vera Lynn’s “White Cliff of Dover” and Fred Astaire’s “Cheek to Cheek” with hymns and songs from musical theater.
So, most probably, she would have loved Andrea Bocelli’s “Nessun Dorma” and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s medley of theater songs more than “Came Her With Love” by Sigala.
However, at the end of his two and half minute appearance Prince Charles spelled out that wasn’t essentially what she wanted to convey.
