Aled Jones has revealed the hilarious interruption Prince Philip used to ‘ruin’ conversations between the Walking in the Air singer and the late Queen.
The Welsh star said the “kind” Queen Elizabeth II would ask him how long it had taken him to perfect his performances before telling him his voice “sounded great”.
However, the Duke of Edinburgh would “often” come over and ruin the interaction by asking her when her voice was going to crack.
The former choirboy, who rose to fame after singing the Christmas classic ‘Walking in the Air’ in 1985, said:
‘For example, I met her also after singing with Leonard Bernstein, she said, ‘That must have been difficult, how long did that take you?’ and ‘The voice sounds great,’ she said.
‘And then, invariably, Prince Philip would come along and ruin it all by saying ‘has your voice broken?’ or something like that, which he did often.’
The late Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Aled Jones rose to fame after singing the Christmas classic ‘Walking in the Air’ in 1985.
Jones spoke about her “nightmare” of forgetting words in front of the Royal Family during a royal variety show.
Speaking on the Rosebud podcast, the 53-year-old said: ‘The first time I sang for Her Majesty The Queen, I forgot my words.
‘Then Rory Bremner came up to me. I didn’t know him, but he’s a great friend now. At the time I wasn’t. I hated him for that comment.
‘I was singing Memory and he said, “You just proved to the world that you don’t have one.”
‘That was the only time I had a recurring nightmare moment.
‘I had the score in front of me for rehearsal and it came out brilliantly, Andrew (Lloyd Webber) was thrilled.
‘The director came up to me and said, ‘Oh, don’t use the score, it ruins the take and you look a bit stupid.’
‘I was 12 and a half and I said, ‘Okay,’ I remember walking on and singing the first verse.
‘And then between the first and second verse, I looked down the hall and I could see an exit sign and it flashed and I suddenly thought, “I have no idea what’s coming next.”
‘Her Majesty The Queen was there with Prince Philip and members of the Royal Family.
“Luckily, I made up the words and went back to verses three, four and five, but I was petrified, I shook and my voice cracked a little.”
She continued: ‘Andrew was very kind, he said my words were better than the original, which they were not.
‘So, that was my first time performing for Her Majesty the Queen.’