Adele & Harry Styles turned down the Palace’s offers to perform at the Jubbly

During the Queen’s Platinum Jubbly, I mostly just covered the relevant royal stories since the event was, you know, so royal-focused. I didn’t talk much about the concert at Buckingham Palace or what was actually going on with any celebrities. Mostly, I didn’t care and I didn’t recognize some of the names of the performers at the concert, although the concert did include such big-name talent as Rod Stewart, Elton John and Ed Sheeran as well. The UK has their own “local” celebrities and musical artists, people who are mega-stars within Britain and nowhere else, and many of those types were included too. But what about the other British mega-stars who are famous around the world? What about Adele or Harry Styles? They did not perform or participate in the Jubbly in any way. Harry is on tour, Adele is… raising her child in LA. The Daily Mail’s Eden Confidential column tries to make this into a scandal.

She was the humble Londoner who grew up in a small flat above a discount furniture store, but now Adele is so grand that she turned down the Queen. I hear that the organisers of the Party at the Palace asked the Los Angeles-based superstar to perform at the concert held to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

‘They were told she couldn’t do it,’ a source tells me. ‘Scheduling issues, or something like that, were given as an excuse. It caused a lot of surprise, particularly as she was awarded an MBE. After all, how many chances will there be to perform in front of Buckingham Palace for the Queen?’

And Adele, 34, is not the only British mega-star to snub the monarch. I can disclose that Harry Styles also rejected the opportunity to sing in front of a global audience of millions. A source close to the 28-year-old former One Direction star confirms: ‘He was asked.’

Pop superstars who did perform included Ed Sheeran, Sir Elton John, Sir Rod Stewart and Queen.

Adele could not be reached for comment, while a spokesman for Styles declines to discuss the snub. However, a source close to him claims: ‘He could not participate because of timing with his schedule.’

A spokesman for the BBC, which organised the concert, declines to comment.

[From The Mail +]

Interesting that Eden’s sources are talking about this openly, that Adele and Harry Styles got the approach and both turned down the palace and the BBC. This is funny: “Styles also rejected the opportunity to sing in front of a global audience of millions…” Harry Styles can perform in front of millions whenever he wants. He can perform in front of millions whenever he goes to an award show or streams his concert. Same for Adele. They don’t need the palace to “give” them an audience of millions. The mention of Adele’s MBE is especially tacky and transactional from those palace sources.

Personally, I do think Adele is sort of… uninterested in the royal trappings at this point. She’s been publicly supportive of Prince Harry (her favorite) and she seemingly chose to give an exclusive interview to Oprah after the Sussexes’ interview. As for Harry, I doubt he thinks about royalty much at all. Ed Sheeran though, he does a lot of royal-adjacent stuff. He does want an MBE or CBE out of it.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red and Backgrid.

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48 Responses to “Adele & Harry Styles turned down the Palace’s offers to perform at the Jubbly”

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  1. blackfemmebot says:

    Lol so much for the “convening power of the palace” the courtiers are always talking about H&M missing out on.

  2. Laalaa says:

    Maybe Harry Styles said no because he knows they don’t respect Harry-s as they should.

  3. Caitriona says:

    After all the cash-for-honours scandals to suggest that Adele should have performed because she got an MBE is….
    Stupid

  4. Miranda says:

    I didn’t really follow royal gossip at the time, but I could swear that I remember reading that Adele was asked to perform at W&K’s wedding reception, but turned them down back then, too. I could totally be making that up, though. Anyone else remember something like that?

  5. Alexandria says:

    They don’t strike me as particularly anti-monarchy so I don’t think it’s a big deal. Even tho they may like Harry. From what I know, Daniel Radcliffe is quite anti monarchy / republican. Not sure of other British celebs.

    • Shaylynn says:

      Since Adele is in a relationship with a Black man perhaps she isn’t a fan of how the Royals treated the Duchess of Sussex.

  6. Snuffles says:

    Sorry monarchy, none of the cool kids want to come to your party. And that attitude that everyone should not only submit to the monarchy’s demands but be thrilled about it is why you lost the Sussex’s in the first place.

  7. Leslie says:

    Eh I don’t think it’s that big a deal 🤷‍♀️

  8. Jay says:

    Did they really think Adele would show up just because she was awarded an MBE? Way to make the Queen’s list seem like a quid pro quo.

    And Adele keeps postponing her Vegas shows, if she really wanted more fame and to perform to millions, she’d just do that. This kind of complaining is small and petty.

  9. Abby says:

    Is this the concert where Lamar Odom Jr. sang a song from HAMILTON on the steps of Buckingham Palace? I thought about the irony of that particular musical being chosen to celebrate the monarchy for days. DAYS. 😆 can we please talk about that?

    Like what BP staffer was like ok; let’s do that musical about when one of our colonies went to war with us to become their own country. That will be a great way to honor our Queen! And let’s do it at her palace! 😆😆😆😆

    • Noki says:

      I think you mean Leslie Odom.

    • Scal says:

      It wasn’t Leslie odom Jr. it was Giles Terea from the West End cast that performed wait for it. And frankly compared to Leslie he wasn’t any good.

      LMM riffing on the King George song was…a choice. I guess they had to make it hip and cool since Andrew Lloyd Webber is so tacky

    • MerlinsMom1018 says:

      Lamar Odom. Jr.
      I’dve paid excellent money to see THAT. 😆

    • MrsH says:

      @abby 💯👆🏻 The people that work at the palaces are so bad at their jobs

  10. Mina_Esq says:

    I’m surprised they didn’t suggest that Adele is only as popular as she still is because of her royal connection via MBE lol

  11. Mia1066 says:

    Since Adele moved to ‘LA’! and was interviewed by Oprah! The Fail have been overtly trashing her. Usual pieces of crap.

    • BothSidesNow says:

      I have noticed that they hold grudges of Brit’s that move to the US, not just Adele. Their pettiness with Brits with moving to the US knows no bounds.

  12. vs says:

    It seems there is a huge inferiority complex among uk royalists… do they understand most people would pass over their Betty to greet some celebrities? People listen to Barack Obama more than they would ever pay attention to the royal family? There are some people over here who can’t even name 5 members in that family …. So weird!!!

    • Driver8 says:

      Funny you should say that. I’m in my early 50s and had no idea the Queen 🤮 had another son aside from Charles and the rapey one. OT, but I have mad respect for celebrities that turn down the knighthood (looking at you David Bowie). This family is irrelevant and BORING. F*ck the monarchy!

  13. Amy Bee says:

    There were complaints that there weren’t many current stars at the concert. So that’s why Eden is attacking Harry Styles and Adele for not performing.

  14. Talia says:

    I thought Adele was having significant issues with performing? If she can’t cope with the Vegas shows, a televised programme may well also raise the same issues. If she is having personal problems, this complaining is inappropriate. She’s not performing *at all* at the moment – it’s not any sort of snub to the Queen (not that she wouldn’t be entitled to say no for any reason).

  15. Beff says:

    The Queen didn’t even attend the concert. Adele and Harry Styles don’t need the f*cking palace for exposure anymore than Harry & Meghan. These fart sniffers really need to remove their heads from their asses and leave the palace bubble for a few minutes. And not to stage a publicity stunt with Wills poverty-role playing. Or Kate breaking Covid rules for a photo op.

  16. Becks1 says:

    LOL. Ed Sheeran was of course there, he wants his MBE or whatever and he’s friends with the royals – all of the younger ones I feel like (well Harry, Beatrice and Eugenie.) He’s done palace stuff before so I’m not surprised he did this.

    This line – “how many chances will there be to perform in front of Buckingham Palace for the Queen?’”
    the Queen didnt even attend the concert so I think Adele and Harry are okay that they missed their chance to perform at BP for…..not the Queen.

    At any rate I don’t think it was this huge intentional snub, and I think that’s the issue, right? Adele and Harry Styles aren’t trying to make some big statement by not performing at BP. They just have their own schedules and lives and are busy enough AND are popular enough without needing to perform at the Jubbly. And I think that’s the problem. Performing at BP would have done nothing to raise their popularity and they are already busy, so why go out of their way for it?

    They did get some big names like Elton John and Rod Stewart but I think there may be a generational thing at play too to a certain extent. or maybe they’re both based in the UK so it was easier.

  17. MissG says:

    I just want to know who forced Rod Stewart to butcher a Neil Diamond song.

    Like Sir Rod doesn’t have a big enough catalog of his own hits to perform?

    • Mia1066 says:

      My theory it was KP. Didn’t they have George singing along or something? I didn’t watch it but I thought that was the story. In which case George had to be taught the lyrics so someone had to sing it. Rod did not want to.

    • SomeChick says:

      I read someplace that it was the special request of the queen and he felt he could not say no. which actually makes a lot of sense. it’s a pretty odd choice for Rod otherwise.

      it also said that specific songs were requested, including Girl on Fire and the one about New York (but she sang it about London). I wouldn’t be surprised if all of the songs were specific requests. it’s a command performance, right? (gee that sounds kinda sinister now, haha)

  18. Flowerlake says:

    Adele was one of the first people there when Grenfell happened.
    She’s not too grand, but just prioritizes what is really important.

    So they can piss off with their dumb narratives.

    • BothSidesNow says:

      @ Flowerlake, Adele seems like such a lovely woman, to me. You comment makes me happy!!

  19. JMoney says:

    Before M was a member of the fam, I remember William and Kate doing Radio One on the BBC that surprisingly went down well. Kate barely spoke but what stuck out was the presenter had asked W if he had a smartphone and W replied yes and the reason the presenter had asked he said b/c Obama does not have one. Then the presenter asked W if they can get Obama to come on the show b/c they really want to interview him lol. There’s a diff between being famous and being popular and the RF esp after the Queen will be just famous.

    This is me putting on my conspiracy theory hat but I think part of the reason H&M got the procession at the Jubilee and TQ sent her personal car and security aside from the fact she likes them, is that the palace was struggling to get talent for the concert and M is friend’s with Alicia Keys so I think M asked Alicia if she would perform and Alicia agreed. Notice K’s reaction to when Alicia Keys was performing. K had no problem with Craig David or Diana Ross but when Alicia Keys was performing….

    • Jais says:

      Kate’s face when Alicia Keys was singing was one of my favorite clips from the jubilee. Her face and limp flag waving while Alicia keys sang girl on fire was funnny. Don’t think Meghan had anything to do with her performing but loved that Alicia got her coin while showing BP lit up in flames during her song. It wasn’t necessarily saying the monarchy should go up in flames but if some chose to take it that way? Oh well.

    • MsIam says:

      I was still trying to figure out why Alicia Keys was performing there. I can understand Diana Ross more because she has a history of performing for the royals from back in the 60s. But I guess seeing Alicia reminded Kate of another beautiful, talented biracial woman she can’t compete with, lol.

  20. TIFFANY says:

    I think it was more optics. The UK is going through alot with housing, food prices rising and gas, not being able to heat homes etc. And Adele and Harry, two of the biggest acts working currently taking cash essentially from the government to perform just is not a good look. I think Harry and Adele have some sense in that regard.

  21. MerlinsMom1018 says:

    Not that I was asked, don’tchaknow, but I too, would have turned down an invitation to perform at the Jubbly. I believe during that time I was washing my hair…😎

  22. Cava 24 says:

    If the Queen asked Harry to come to Windsor and sing to her and the corgis, he would probably be up for that. The Palace is trying to essentially use personal affection for the Queen to support the Crown and just, no.

  23. tamsin says:

    I read the list of performers and was surprised the list included so many American performers. I was also checking for performers from the Commonwealth. Wouldn’t it have been a good thing to include a few?

  24. Dee says:

    No. They were too busy dodging Kenyan activists seeking financial restitution for yet another colonial atrocity.

  25. Rusty Moore says:

    😂 the brits and their flare for DRAMAH…no one is allowed to have busy schedules anymore, according to some busy schedules are a snub or a sign of disrespect to the monarchy.…when in reality the real disrespect is that a monarchy still exists, while millions of children live under the poverty line in Great Britain. Tah

  26. Honeychurch says:

    Harry Styles performed at Harry & Meghan’s wedding – that’s the word on the street. Him turning down the Jubilee concert is interesting in thst context.