In February and March of this year, Buckingham Palace was having a hell of a time trying to book artists to perform at the coronation concert. It felt like every artist they went to turned them down – Adele, Ed Sheeran, Elton John, Harry Styles, the Spice Girls and several other British artists all turned down the palace flat. They even asked Kylie Minogue (an Aussie and a royalist) and she turned them down too. Well, Omid Scobie brought one other name into the list of artists who turned down the king: Taylor Swift!
Taylor Swift reportedly turned down an offer to perform at the King’s Coronation. The musician, 33, was in Nashville on her hugely successful Eras Tour during the King’s coronation on 6 May. Royal reporter Omid Scobie reported on the declined offer in his new book Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight for Survival.
Swift was not the only high-profile name to pass on the concert – Elton John, the Spice Girls, Harry Styles, Ed Sheeran and Adele all reportedly said no to the offer. Scobie reported that it was “a challenge” to put together a line-up for the concert.
Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, Andrea Bocelli and Take That all performed at the event in London on 7 May.
Scobie said that while “coronation refusals may seem frivolous”, they are also a sign of “something deeper at work”.
“Charles just doesn’t have the requisite gravitas, which is understandable, given he’s spent a majority of his life in the wake of the grand-class cruise ship of his mother’s reputation,” he said. “In our era of celebrity obsession and pop culture icons, if Elton and Harry Styles can’t be bothered, why should we be?”
I always thought the Ed Sheeran refusal was the most interesting one, because he had just performed at the Jubbly concert in 2022. But, as Scobie said, that was to honor QEII. It was pointed, how all of those big-name British artists said no – and that whole story was quickly buried as fast as possible. As for Swift, I would imagine her refusal was pretty simple – she probably just said “no thanks, my tour has already started” and left it at that. Amazing that Charles honestly thought he could book Taylor – the absolute audacity of it, truly. So he ended up going with Katy Perry and Lionel Richie. Sad!
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- WINDSOR, ENGLAND – MAY 07: King Charles III, Queen Camilla, Prince George of Wales, Prince William, Prince of Wales, Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murty, Commonwealth Secretary-General are seen during the Coronation Concert on May 07, 2023 in Windsor, England. The Windsor Castle Concert is part of the celebrations of the Coronation of Charles III and his wife, Camilla, as King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the other Commonwealth realms that took place at Westminster Abbey yesterday.,Image: 774482050, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Chris Jackson / Avalon
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- The Prince of Wales speaking at the Coronation Concert held in the grounds of Windsor Castle, Berkshire, to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.,Image: 774496307, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Yui Mok / Avalon
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- (left to right) Prince George, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Akshata Murty, Queen Camilla and King Charles III in the Royal Box viewing the Coronation Concert held in the grounds of Windsor Castle, Berkshire, to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.,Image: 774498677, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Yui Mok / Avalon
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- Lionel Richie performs during a concert at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, Sunday, May 7, 2023, celebrating the coronation of King Charles III. It’s one of several events over a three-day weekend of celebrations.,Image: 774554865, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: POOL PHOTO, Model Release: no, Credit line: Kin Cheung / Avalon
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- Las Vegas, NV – “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour” at Allegiant Stadium on March 24, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pictured: Taylor Swift BACKGRID USA 24 MARCH 2023 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Las Vegas, NV – “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour” at Allegiant Stadium on March 24, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pictured: Taylor Swift BACKGRID USA 24 MARCH 2023 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Dallas, TX – American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift performs at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas Pictured: Taylor Swift BACKGRID USA 31 MARCH 2023 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
Lol Charles…*points and laughs*
KC should have stayed in his own lane. He seems more of a classical music type person, why not feature that at his concert?
I’m sure he would have preferred that but the Palace is eager to connect with young people and so tried to get artistes who the youth would want to see. It explains why BlackPink got MBEs last week.
BwahahahBwahahahaha, the irony. In this day and era, the biggest fool a.k.a Charles Windsor is still giving “honors” with BRITISH EMPIRE in it. There’s nothing cool associated to the British Empire and the atrocities said empire did to people around the world and most especially POC. The British empire is tied to slavery, genocide, pillaging and plundering of POC, and anything associated with it should be a shameful thing, not something to boast about. They should have abolished this thing long time ago, but I guess no one in that institution of classism has any brains. And to think that some English people in this day and era are still cozying up to the Windsors and begging them to give them this honor is so mind boggling. #Abolishthemonarchy.
Right! Not that BlackPink weren’t deserving (I wouldn’t know), but it all seemed so thirsty.
Taylor attended Willy’s birthday party in the past, which was a cringe-fest. Maybe that’s why they thought they could get her again?
The minute Ed Sheeran said, “No, thanks,” there was probably no way in hell TS was going to show up.
Good point with BlackPink, Amy Bee.
When Elton, who’s always been seen as a friend of the royals, said no, I’m sure it was taken as a sign by the rest of the music industry to stay far, far away. Diana has her revenge from the grave. Elton might be OK with Charles, but no way Camilla.
Katy Perry has something in common with Katie Keen. They are both last women standing and last choices.
I remember some years ago Taylor was at some event where she ended up singing on stage with William and Bon Jovi(????) so if this rumor is true maybe they assumed she was an American royalist because looking at the list of the actual performers and the performers who declined most had already done performances for royals before which makes their refusals even more pointed. (Especially Ed Sheeran , Kylie, and Ellie Goulding who previously seemed willing to show up to a royal opening of a grocery store).
See, this is the one story I think is a little too gossipy (and unnecessary). I know someone who works for the RF and was involved in booking the concert, and we had drinks a few days before.
She told me the organising was a nightmare, as most A list performers book their schedule sometimes years ahead, and with contract/insurance etc can’t drop anything to fulfill a brand new engagement.
Knowing this is the case, then, why push ahead with a concert at all? Granted, they didn’t know exactly when TQEII would die nor when C3 would become king, but–why plan a big concert with A-list performers if you know full well their schedules tend to be lined up years in advance? Go a different way, geez Louise.
They really thought they had the standing to be able to pull Taylor Swift for Chucky’s little struggle party. Dear god, the ✨DELUSION✨
😂😂😂😂
In Taylor’s case it could have been her schedule, since she was touring. She lived in the UK and dated four British men, so she has a fondness for the country and people. But as we can see, that doesn’t necessarily to one for the Royals….at least not Charles, lol.
But honestly, Taylor has apparently turned down the Super Bowl half time before. She’s very careful with her image and likes to control the way she releases music and when and where she performs. So I’m not sure she would have done it even if her schedule had been free.
She’s careful, but also doesn’t need to sign on for events like that, where a performer doesn’t get paid, just gets “exposure”. She’s selling out stadiums for thousands per ticket or whatever people were paying, she doesn’t need what those events provide. I’m not much of a fan of hers, but there’s no denying she’s already top of the heap, she doesn’t need it.
I find it hilarious Charles couldn’t get UK artists to perform.
Imagine the viewership figures that thing would have brought, and swifties would also have massively watched the corronation just to get a glimpse of her. We truly dodge a bullet because the palace would have been able to call it a success.
Yeah I could imagine their ratings up the roof if she performed as well as a lot of publicity. And it would have been the talk all over social media. She’s definitely a huge influencer. Considering that Taylor Swift is one of the mega artists/blockbusters (with Beyoncé and Barbie) that helped divert a recession according to studies.